Making the inlaid design
According to the weather forecast, it will start getting really cold from today. Maybe because of that, the weather has slowly begun to get worse. Before the rain started, I attached the Aruki panels to the 6-sun box this morning. While I was doing the work, I felt once again that even though I had to make the box a little lower this time for certain reasons, it might look more balanced if it were about five millimeters taller. Of course, this does not affect the mechanism at all. I still have quite a lot of this yosegi left for the side panels, so I am thinking about using it for boxes around the 5-sun size (about 15 cm / 6 inches) in the future.
After that, just as I wrote yesterday, I started making the top panel for this 6-sun box. This time I plan to create the design by embedding wood pieces into the panel. So today I made the groove for the panel and finished shaping the wood parts that will be inserted. The photo shows the moment right before I embed the parts. I put glue on both the groove and the wood pieces, then press them in, and after that I clamp the panel tightly with a woodworking vise. It cannot be done without the strong pressure of the vise. If I simply insert the parts without clamping, the moisture from the glue makes the wood warp, and the parts will rise up. I made the pieces slightly tight on purpose, but because the glue makes the wood swell a little, it becomes even tighter, and pushing the parts in by hand takes a huge amount of effort. That’s why the strong pressure of the vise is necessary. After gluing, I leave the panel as it is until the glue becomes completely dry and firm. Waiting a few hours, or even overnight, is probably the best.
This work takes quite a lot of time, so for this box I am only doing the top panel with this method. For the bottom panel, I will use a design with two kinds of wood that creates a random grain pattern. The sheets for that arrived today, but I still do not know if they will glue well, as they usually do. I need to try it first. There are several makers that produce sheets like these, but each maker uses different materials and different methods, so the results are not always the same. I will do a small test tomorrow before I start the actual work.
After that, today I prepared the materials for my next project, which is a 4-sun box. At first, I planned to make it a 27-steps box, but I realized that the Aruki panels I had made extra materials for 18-steps aruki panels earlier . So this time, I decided to make it 18 steps. If I don’t use the extra panels soon, I might forget that I have them 😅
After that, just as I wrote yesterday, I started making the top panel for this 6-sun box. This time I plan to create the design by embedding wood pieces into the panel. So today I made the groove for the panel and finished shaping the wood parts that will be inserted. The photo shows the moment right before I embed the parts. I put glue on both the groove and the wood pieces, then press them in, and after that I clamp the panel tightly with a woodworking vise. It cannot be done without the strong pressure of the vise. If I simply insert the parts without clamping, the moisture from the glue makes the wood warp, and the parts will rise up. I made the pieces slightly tight on purpose, but because the glue makes the wood swell a little, it becomes even tighter, and pushing the parts in by hand takes a huge amount of effort. That’s why the strong pressure of the vise is necessary. After gluing, I leave the panel as it is until the glue becomes completely dry and firm. Waiting a few hours, or even overnight, is probably the best.
This work takes quite a lot of time, so for this box I am only doing the top panel with this method. For the bottom panel, I will use a design with two kinds of wood that creates a random grain pattern. The sheets for that arrived today, but I still do not know if they will glue well, as they usually do. I need to try it first. There are several makers that produce sheets like these, but each maker uses different materials and different methods, so the results are not always the same. I will do a small test tomorrow before I start the actual work.
After that, today I prepared the materials for my next project, which is a 4-sun box. At first, I planned to make it a 27-steps box, but I realized that the Aruki panels I had made extra materials for 18-steps aruki panels earlier . So this time, I decided to make it 18 steps. If I don’t use the extra panels soon, I might forget that I have them 😅