For a recent bachi commission, I was asked to make the bachi as heavy as possible whilst maintaining the form factor I produced for smaller hands.

To achieve this, I used corian for the sides, the heaviest non-metal material I had in stock, and extended the length.

Again, the bachi is inspired by the nagauta shape and is much narrower than the others I’ve made previously. The long prototype weighed in at 81g and is available on Etsy at the time of writing.

Traditional size, heavyweight bachi

During the process, I made another bachi with the same materials at a more traditional profile.

I found with the corian it made sense to trim the edges of the scales at the blade end to avoid it fraying or chipping when profiling and fine sanding. I discovered this with the first prototype, which needed support material to make up the thinner scale ends.

This one weighs in at 74g, helped in part by the slightly wider proportions and the improved scale termination.

At time of writing, this bachi is also available on Etsy.

If you’re interested in any of my other bachis, all available bachis are on my Etsy here.