Jules,
I think they're ok. Ofcourse, there's almost no taper, but they do have lots of movement. But, where is the coke can ??
If you like shohin, you may try finding a nursery tree such as these were, that has many live low branches. Then you can cut the trunk 3" above the last branch you want to use.
After a while (to let it recover) you can make the stump into a tapering jin.
Zeb