Which Tool for Carving? - bonsaiTALK Community

15-Sep-2004	#1
Ralph BonsaiTalk Master B.S.er Join Date: Jun-2002 Location: Richardson, Texas Country: God Bless America USDA Zone: 8 AHS Heat Zone: 9 Posts: 1,285	Which Tool? If one were planning to make an addition to their tool kit, specifically the need of a tool to do some serious shari and trunk work, and you had to make a choice on one tool at this time which you you recomend? trunk splitter? Knob cutter? Other? __________________ Emerging from winter slumber Bonsai trees burst buds anew Spring is upon us! -Paul S.

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15-Sep-2004	#2
grampz Behr Appleby Join Date: Aug-2003 Location: Kyle Tx Country: USA USDA Zone: 8 AHS Heat Zone: 10 Posts: 946	My suggestion would be a good dremel tool...a chisel can work for trunk splitting, the dremel in my opinion is almost indispensible for shari, jin, and other carving type work...Plus it can be used to make a wound concave before sealing, thus replacing the knob cutter... Regards Behr

15-Sep-2004	#3
TreeBay Tips:5¢ Advice:Free *MODERATOR GROUP* Join Date: Aug-2001 Location: Silicon Valley Country: USA USDA Zone: 9 AHS Heat Zone: 4 Posts: 9,745	I don't know what you have already, but I would begin with hand tools. a sharp knife would be my first choice. A folding grafting knife like this can be very useful. I would not use an expensive grafting tool for this purpose JR-0190 Folding Grafting Knife There are several types of specialized carving tools available in laminated steel; on the left a chisel, in the middle a jin-ing tool which is rather unique in that it can be pulled, leaving the blade behind your hand and the direction of force (very safe for making tapering jinand stripping bark) and the last is a knife that could replace the one above JR-9159 Carving Tool Set There are a couple of reasons I would suggest hand tools first. They are great to work with to get a feeling for the wood grain and won't remove too much material at one time. Even if you migrate to power tools later, you will also find them quite handy for cleaning up the marks left by power tools. Regards, Matt __________________ Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today! bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

15-Sep-2004	#4
Bart Thomas(deceased) Perpetual Novice Join Date: Jun-2003 Location: Bridgewater, NJ Country: United States USDA Zone: 6 AHS Heat Zone: 5 Posts: 1,367	Regarding the Dremel suggestion, I would recommend it. The cordless models are very handy. I would suggest the new model with the NiMH batteries. You won't find the bits you want at your Dremel dealer. Dale Cochoy sells some excellent bits for the 1/8" shaft. I'd start with the buzz-out wheel, and then let your perceived needs guide you as to others. The buzz-out wheel will do 90% of what you want. If you're doing big trees with a LOT of carving, you'll need a die grinder.

15-Sep-2004	#5
susieq Intermediate Join Date: Jun-2002 Location: Hudson, FL Country: USA Posts: 487	A Dremel tool..... so many different bits to work with. High speed rpms. Dremels are hard to beat. You can do heavy work with them or detailed work on a small scale. As a wood carver, I own 3 of them and use them on my bonsai when ever I need to do any "scaring" or "jin" work. Best wishes. susieq

15-Sep-2004

Ralph

BonsaiTalk Master B.S.er

Join Date: Jun-2002

Location: Richardson, Texas

Country: God Bless America

Posts: 1,285

I have a dremmel, but specifically I was thinking of something to start the rough work on this

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__________________
Emerging from winter slumber
Bonsai trees burst buds anew
Spring is upon us!

-Paul S.