Individual Kiri Box for Fuchi/kashira

[Exclus1ve]

Have a good time, everyone!
I would like to make individual inserts for a kiri box for some of my fuchi/kashira sets.

I have no questions about the menuki and the tsuba — I found old threads where everything is described and shown in detail. But could someone show the insert of this sample from the inside? How is it constructed and from what materials?

[lonely panet]

I remember that fuchi. Stunning

[Exclus1ve]

6 hours ago, lonely panet said:

I remember that fuchi. Stunning

It’s not mine, I just used a photo. If anyone has a similar Kiri box with the same insert, could you take it out and show the back side?

[Barrie B]

Hi Victor,

 

Just curious; what materiel will you use?

 

B.

[ROKUJURO]

15 hours ago, Exclus1ve said:

How is it constructed and from what materials?

Yes, that was the initial question. 

If I had to do it, I wood use KIRI (PAULOWNIA) wood. It is easy to work on with sharp tools, lightweight, and does not shrink or expand with moisture. 

[Exclus1ve]

I must have expressed myself poorly. The materials are standard, with no changes to the traditional design. The question is about the construction of the base(lodgement) of the case itself. I just need someone who has a box with a similar structure to take a photo of the case from the inside.

[Tim Evans]

I have made fitted fuchi-gashira box inserts. I used balsa wood for the insert, it is readily available in hobby shops or online in various thicknesses and is very easy to work with hand tools. I will describe using inch measurements, I assume there are equivalent metric sizes. This is just a general outline, various dimensional adjustments may be needed depending on how big the fuchi and kashira are. 

1. Cut a 1/4 inch thick piece of balsa wood to fit inside the box. Make it a little small since it will be wrapped in fabric.
2. Cut a 1/8 inch thick piece of balsa wood the same size. This will hold the fuchi.
3. Locate where you want the fuchi to sit, then cut the hole for the fuchi in the 1/8 piece. It should be a little tight.
4. Glue a piece of fabric on the 1/4 inch piece where the fuchi hole will show through.
5. Glue the 1/8 piece on top of the 1/4 piece.
6. Locate and cut the slot for the fuchi. 
7. Think about how high you want the insert to sit. If too low, then you may want to glue another balsa wood board on the bottom. A board on the bottom also helps it look more finished. 
8. Some adjusting will need to be done to the holes since you want a little friction to hold the items in place, but are also easy to pull out. 
9. cut a piece of fabric to go over the top and down the sides. Glue this on.
10. This is the fussy part. carefully cut the fabric covering the holes so that you can fold the fabric over the edges of the holes and glue them down. The fuchi hole will need additional small pieces of fabric to line the sides and the bottom. 

I have also used this method to make press in liners for menuki and tsuba boxes. 

 

[Andi B.]

I made some boxes for fuchi-kashira sets taking below steps.
Not sure, how professionals are doing it, but for me it worked fine.

 

Silk, kiri wood, card board, plywood...

 

Holes cut.

 

(That's the three pieces together but not glued.)

 

A fuchi template

 

is used to bring the sik in shape

[Andi B.]

Part 2

 

To keep it in shape, I tap the silk with a little bookbinder's glue (it's viscous and doesn't seep through easily). The glue acts like "hairspray"...

 

That's the bottom of the top layer.

 

On the bottom of the top layer I glued a layer of thin cardbord.

 

Then both pieces are glued together and the silk is glued in the kashira indentation.

 

In the box there are two squared pieces of wood glued so that the fuchi silk doesn't touch the bottom, when the inlay is in the box.

 

Edited Friday at 05:54 PM by Andi B.

[Exclus1ve]

Thank you very much, Andi!
Useful information, it will also be interesting to compare it with Japanese production.

[Hokke]

20 hours ago, Andi B. said:

I made some boxes for fuchi-kashira sets taking below steps.
Not sure, how professionals are doing it, but for me it worked fine.

Excellent tutorial sir, thank you for taking the time and effort to post it.

[Andi B.]

One note:

On Paul Kremers' website tsuba.info for excellent tsuba and kodogu, he shows how to make a kozuka dai:

https://tsuba.info/making-a-kozuka-dai/

Because it worked perfectly, his instruction inspired me to build all kinds of boxes for various items.

Edited Saturday at 10:10 PM by Andi B.