Constructing the Bodies

I decided to make the bodies out of redwood. There were a number of reasons for this. Firstly, it was available, and in some quality cuts. And redwood is fairly inexpensive. I had read that shime were often made of “lighter wood” than the white oak nagado-daiko were usually made of, so I figured it would work well enough. Also, I thought it would be attractive once finished. I like natural wood grain better than lacquer, and I thought if I chose the right stock the redwood could be nice looking. And lastly, it's light. That's not an issue for shime, but these shime are also sort of a trial run for making larger okedo-daiko. I like the idea of being able to wear a drum while I'm playing it, but it would be better if it weren't too heavy. 

My friend Nick was kind enough to lend a hand and his table saw so I could do the angle cuts on the staves more accurately. We ripped my redwood boards into strips which I then cut down by hand to approximately the correct length. I decided to make each of these bodies a different height so I could test the differences in the finished drum. One is eight inches, one nine and the last is ten. 

I glued up the staves and bound them with a bunch of oversized rubber bands I purchased at my local office supply store. Once dry, I used a block plane to shave down the corners and round the entire drum body. Once it had been 'rough rounded' I took 60 grit sand paper to it, then 100, then 220 to smooth out the surface.