Prosthetic Bonsai

Treebeard

Hi All,

Some of you may recall the tree presented here: TOD April 25 2005.

The tree was mine, and the comments it recieved were very helpful. The overriding feeling was that the undercut branch on the left was a problem. I wasn't sure about it before I submitted the tree, but after all the comments were given I resolved to fix the undercut.

After watching the excellent work done by the demonstrators at the Joy of Bonsai 2005 in Bath I was all revved up to have a crack.

The method I chose was implanting a hardwood wedge. The wood I used was the kind that is sold for use in aquariums, it is very hard, very dense and very heavy.

First stage was to clean out the area where the implant was to be fixed. This was done with a dremel, scalpel and toothbrush. Photos 22017 & 22018 show this in progress.

Attached Images

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	02.jpg (70.7 KB, 157 views)

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Treebeard

Next came the carving of the implant. This was done carefully with a tungsten carbide cutter in my dremel. A knife just wouldn't touch it. A hole was drilled through for the screw, see photos 22019 & 22020. This carving and drilling stage took about 2 hours, I have done this sort of thing before in a hurry and removed too much material and scrapped the piece. The implant was continually offered up to the gap, and a little pressure applied. When the implant is then removed, the wet spots on the back are where it had touched the tree underneath and needed more carving. Doing the over and over again eventually yielded a good fitting implant. The screw hole was countersunk so the head of the screw would end up quite a way below the top of the wood.

Attached Images

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Treebeard

Photos 22021 & 22022 show the implant being offered up to the gap and after driving the screw home. The screw is zinc plated to prevent rust.

Attached Images

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	05.jpg (71.4 KB, 113 views)

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
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Treebeard

The placement of the screw hole has been carefully chosen. I had picked a spot that had a little broken branch stub and drilled that right out, so that when the screw had been screwed home I could plug the hole with another little branch stub. That way, the grain surrounding the stub is of the right orientation and flowed round the stub, rather than the stub just sticking out of an otherwise smooth surface. Photos 22023 & 22024 show the fitted stub. It is wedged in there with all the force I could apply, even the rock-hard wood gave a little when I forced it in

Attached Images

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	08.jpg (68.0 KB, 127 views)

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
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Treebeard

Photos 22025 & 22026 show the finished job. The implant doesn't show very well on the macro with flash picture number 22025. This is one of those instances where it looks much better in person than in a photo. I filled the gaps around the edges with little rolls of cut paste, and some small tufts of moss were also applied along the bottom edge.

I have not done this before, so I don't quite know how it will work out. I am hoping that the cork bark will grow around the implant and help to hold it in place. If anybody out there has experience of this I'd be very interested to know anything on the matter.

As a comparison, the last photo shows the 'before' tree. I have not completely removed the reverse taper aspect, but it is greatly reduced and I think the small indentation that is left looks very much in keeping with the rugged nature of the rest of the trunk.

Regards,

Chris.

Attached Images

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	TOD_03262005.jpg (50.8 KB, 153 views)

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
-----------------------------------
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Will_Heath

Excellent, informative thread Chris. This is truly amazing, please keep us updated on the progress, I am greatly interested in seeing how the tree heals over the implant.


Will

mkonig

That is an amazing transformation. Well done!

Mike

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BonsaiGreenhorn

Wow. Would have never thought of that. Yes, keep us updated on this.

Has this ever been done before?
-Evan

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grampz

Mr. Chris,

As others have stated you have done an excellent job creating a more visually perfect tree...My sincere congratulations on a first attempt at this type of work...

Although I no longer have the trees in my possession I have done very similar work to three trees in the past, and currently have two in my garden that will receive treatment close to this...Of those I have done two were actually a 'prosthesis implant' [I always called it a 'tanuki'] which were fastened to a 'shari' to increase taper and create deadwood 'nebari', therefore not having the possibility to have bark grow over the added wood...The other was a hackberry with a problem quite similar to your tree...This tree was taken from me along with the rest of my collection a few years ago, thus I will probably never have the opportunity to see the result of the deadwood grafted to the tree...Before it left my possession it was beginning to callus over the added wood very well, and I have every reason to believe with the proper re-cutting of the callus edge it would have eventually healed over and completely covered the implant...I have no idea though if it would make bark on the callus, but I do assume it would...Since you are dealing with a thick barked 'cork bark elm' I would think with time it will cover the implant with bark even if the callus does not form over the added wood...

As a side note I found a product that is an epoxy polymer resin, sold here in the States as "QuickWood" manufactured by Polymeric Systems, Inc. more info at Company Link that is really great for filling those gaps between your carving and the living wood...It does not shrink with application, is easily carved with an exacto knife if done during the first 24 hours, and is impervious to weather and daily watering...I would think you could find a similar product in the UK...



Mr. BonsaiGreenhorn,

Yes this type of corrective surgery has been done by quite a few artists in the past, although many will not admit to doing this as some consider this a 'tanuki', and you will not have to read far on this site to realize that many consider a 'tanuki' to be avoided, and even looked down on...I do recall Mr. Walter Pall recommending this technique for a tree posted on the IBC forum some time back...I believe he even did a virtual for the tree owner...

Regards
Behr

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