Admittedly, I am a bit of a tool fiend. I love the feel of a quality tool in my hands and part of the joy of bonsai for me is using the tools. Since this is a bit of a quiet time in my bonsai season, it seemed a good time to clean out my tool box.

This is what my toolbox holds:

2ea root rakes jin pliers 8 inch concave cutters spring loaded 8 in concave cutter knob cutters 2 wire cutters bonsai scissors long handled bonsai scissors branch splitters 10 in concave cutters 2ea forceps (tweezers) spring loaded trimmers grafting knife wire brushes (for cleaning moss from trunks) paint brushes(for lime sulpher application) stainless steel dental tools – for cleaning and scraping roots and trunks grafting knife 2 ea back cutting saws chop sticks branch bender

electric carver dremel tool hand carving tools dremel bits sand paper various size wire plastic tubing Drawing kit (drawing pencils, sketch pad, erasers) Portable turntable Magnifying glass Diamond tool sharpener Plastic mesh for drainage holes Floral tape Single edge razors Clothes pin Wound sealant Mineral oil (for shining pots and oiling tools) Rooting hormone Lime sulpher Prep H (for treating cuts on deciduous trees) Antiseptic wipes for cleaning tools Advil (for me)

So, What's in your toolbox?

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Candy asks:
So, what's in your bonsai tool box?

I figured once about $5,000 worth of tools!! :>)

Candy, it does my heart good to see a person who actually has everything they'd need at a workshop instead of the oft-seen, pair of scissors, a pair of slip-joint pliers and a pair of chinese wire "dikes" and two pieces of wire 1 1/2 ft. long .
And look at all that STAINLESS!!
Some things I see you carry that I consider very important and rarely see in peoples tools:
Dental tools/picks
wire brushes
branch bender
diamond pad tool sharpener
plastic tubing
floral tape

You look prepared lady!

As per razor blades. See if you can get someone who works in a medical facility to get you some disposable scalpels with plastic handles, and I also use ( a lot!) a small pocket knife that has a "razor" type blade ( lock-back preferred) and has a grippy-rubber neoprene-like handle.

Dale
P.S. I hope you have room for some more power carving bits/tools!

Dale:
Disposable scapels - What a good idea! Thanks for that recommendation: I can already anticipate the better control of that tool.

There is a razor type lock-back pocket knife in my box that was advertised as a pocket grafting knife but I will have to check out one with a "grippy-rubber neoprene-like handle."

I plan on checking out your carving bits/tools at WBC5.

-Candy

Wowzer, my list wont compare to that but here we go:

Concave Cutter (10 Inch)
Knob Cutter (8 Inch)
Knife (3 and 1/2 inch swiss army)
Root Hook
Wire Cutters
Brush
Twig Scissors
Leaf Scissors
Tools Roll,
Dremel Equivalent
Oil
Camera
Books for reference
Pad + Pencil

Cant think of anymore but will add to it if i do.

Rowan

There is a razor type lock-back pocket knife in my box that was advertised as a pocket grafting knife but I will have to check out one with a "grippy-rubber neoprene-like handle."

Pretty close to the same thing. I really recommend the lock-back to folks ( yowch!)
I think the one I have was maybe a Frost Cutlery knife but I've seen many. If you remember seeing old razors the blades are sorta hollow-ground, very similar to grafting knives. I imagine cheaper?
BTW, everyone I've seen doing grafting in the last several years used....
single edged razor blades :>)
Throw away when done or after getting dull.

i can't recommend two tools enough:
A set of EZE-LAP diamond paddles
and
"PULL" 90 degree knife ( comes in R or L hand) with wood handle "Flexcut"

Dale:

Re the plastic tubing. I use it, with a lengthwise cut, to cushion branches from wire pull downs.

Tell me about your other uses for it.

ps. You didn't mention band-aids

When I've sifted through all the wire off-cuts, dried out lumps of cut-paste, shrivelled up twigs and all the other gubbins that shouldn't be in there I will tell you what is in there that should be in there...

Regards,

Chris.

I clicked on gubbins, and the wiki came back with no match.

LOL @ Ralph, I'm sure Matt will soon add that one to his "Treebeard translations"

Delboy.

I thought of something else: Small misting bottle, very useful after styling a tree like a juniper, or during repotting.


Rowan