Phoenix Graft 'Tanuki'

LivingArt

If you know any tips or tricks that aren't on this forum or in The Bonsai Handbook by Colin Lewis, please post them if you have a sec

Thanks a bunch. If by some stroke of fate I happen to learn something new when I'm done with this I promise to tell you what I have learned

LA

__________________
TreeBay Bonsai Tools & Supplies

Advertisement

Bart Thomas(deceased)

Colin Lewis goes into the technique in detail in his book The Art of Bonsai Design.

Andy smith has a tutorial CD-ROM that can be bought at his site:

http://www.goldenarrowbonsai.com/catalog1.htm

or from stone lantern.

Ron Martin will be doing a tanuki at Jupiter Bonsai this weekend.

LivingArt

what attachment for the drill is best for getting the bark and layers off to get down to the hard wood?

__________________
TreeBay Bonsai Tools & Supplies

Bart Thomas(deceased)

Funny you should ask.

I was in a workshop with Shinji Suzuki in Rochester NY, working on Rocky Mountain Junipers with great old bark. We were told to clean up the trees, so we started with wire brushes until we realized the futility of that!

I found that the best tool was a tool made for modeling wax that I bought from Dale Cochoy (Set of 4 cost $. You snake it under any cracks in the bark, pry that park loose, and then peel by hand. By the time I was done the 4" plus trunk had lost almost 1/2" in diameter.

After doing that, particularly with a dead stump, I would use a wire brush on a die grinder (Be careful about tool speed; Most wire wheels are NOT rated for the speed of a die grinder. A variable speed control is a must.), or a drill. With a living tree you would have to be more careful, probably using sandpaper by hand.

BTW, a Dremel with its wire brush is great for nooks and crannies.