More pictures for you, worked away at the whole thing with the dremel today and began the ‘blade’ shaping, it is all holding up very well, the same can’t be said of my poor hands though!
ha that looks so kool, looks like a slow and painful process though, well done!
more progress!
I need opinions: shall i thin the sides down even more and thin the blade down?
i’m a bit wary at this point in going TOO thin
Man, it’s looking so awesome Amanda!! 
Truthfully, I think you could shave it down half it’s current thickness.
Also, you can try it out a bit, then shave some more and try it again. Make it fit your tastes. 
yeah i thought so too, just didn’t want to freak out and over thin it.
It’s quite thin at the join, but it’s still holding strong, so i’ll hack away at it.
I have learned LOTS doing this one. I have more or less done this one the ‘wrong’ way and know what i’d change when i make another
Really enjoy and appreciate your photos of sharing your progress. I am not a builder but merely a player of Shamisen. However somehow I just really love the way so many bachido members are into sharing their builds and work in that arena! Thanks again Amanda and please don’t stop posting as you continue to make improvements and progress!
As i feared, taking down some of the blade i lost some material
Each side i lost about 1mm and along the top, maybe 1.5 mm. very little of the thickness seems to have gone though, i spent about half an hour with the sander too.
Getting a little annoyed with it…
Amanda,
I enjoy your photos very much. Great job!!!
okay everyone, been having a few problems.
This weekend i spent over 4 hours with the dremel, sandpaper and rasps on the bachi and i STILL can’t see any of it coming off or shaping up. I’ve taken another picture but i still can’t see any difference.
helps?
Hmm, It looks like it’s getting thinner to me. It could be the angle of the camera, but it appears that the shell is slightly bent (relative to the shaft). If this is so, perhaps you may want to shave off material from the one side more than the other.
Remember, better slower than faster.
I saw a video from a famous brazillian channel where he uses vinegar and some ingredients to make a bone flexible,when boiling it did it turn more flexible?
If yes,it can substitute a expensive bachi 
hii,
boiling only made it softer and more flexible for a short time, once cooled and dry it goes back to being solid
i shall have to look that method up, it is very interesting.
I finally caved and got kyles book (i keep laughing at the ‘mr’ amazon put as the author name), i need to know more about everything in making, as well as just bachi.
I will print out another template and see where i need to take more of the material away from the bachi
No progress recently as i’ve had heavy essay workload BUT i have been able to do some more research on horn and its’ viability as a tortoiseshell replacement and do a couple of experiments on improving and permanently softening horn.
Hey Amanda, I have been using my horn bachis exclusively for months now and I love them. They sound great, are nicer to use than plastic or wood and show no signs of wear. You do not need to permanently soften the horn. When you get the tip thin enough it will be flexible. Horn and bone are very different. Vinegar won’t do anything to horn. It de-mineralizes bone to essentially leave behind cartilage which is softer than horn.
I also found it took a lot more time than expected to whittle it down to size. Work with aggressive abrasives at first. Use the coarse side of the rasp. Also as the Tsugaru bachi is almost flat sided you can glue a piece of sand paper to a board (or block) and rub in on that. Use a 60 grit at first. Just be careful of the blade edge.
I previously posted my jiuta horn bachi, but here are a few pictures of the Tsugaru one I made, again from black horn and black ebony.
Hang in there, it is well worth the effort.
thanks for the encouragement, yeah vinegar was fine for flexibility till it dried out, no different from soaking in water other than it cleaned up some gritty bits.
I’ve was trying to sand down and it’s still pretty thick, solid and inflexible.
I think one of the biggest problems i has was using such a thick slab in the first place. Half of what i started with would have been more than enough