Following the success of the first run of bachis, I received a commission for a bachi for smaller hands.
At the time, I had a sheet of delrin in stock intended for pick making, however realising this made it ideal for blades, I set about designing a construction style to suit the thickness of the stock (4 mm).
I decided to replicate the Nagauta shape I’d used previously as, to me, that provides the most comfortable grip.
To achieve this, I sketched the profile of the blade, allowing for the shorter length. The side thickness was reduced to allow for comfort in a smaller hand and to suit the common length and thickness of kirinite and juma knife scales. I then drew a triangle intersecting the three layers to form my profile.
With the dimensions set, I laminated the pieces and made a jig to cut the profiles on the bandsaw, beforehand finishing on a sanding block.
The face profile, I rough cut on the bandsaw before cleaning up with a Triton mini spindle sander, beforehand finishing with a specially shaped sanding block.
As usual, fine sanding and wet sanding was performed up to 320 grit dry with an orbital sander, then wet by hand before polishing. I used a mixture of a buffing wheel and hand polishing with abrasive compound to suit each material.
Delrin doesn’t seem to take a strong polish with anything other than the abrasive compound, even wet sanding to 3000 grit beforehand. Instead, I opted to make the 3k sanding lines uniform for a brushed finish and polished by hand.
Throughout the process, as this was my first experience using this construction approach and working with delrin, I prototyped with a spare piece and wenge sides. I sized this piece to suit my hands and kept it as my personal bachi and feels incredible (in my opinion). I’ve found I much prefer the lighter weight afforded by the shape and materials, and feel that the delrin blade will have excellent edge retention and longevity.
One day, I intend to make a shamisen and test my bachis out for myself. When I do, you’ll see it here and on my socials.
All available bachis are on my Etsy here.