Deadwood Bonsai Techniques - Tools and Techniques

Tools and Techniques

Many standard shop and woodworking tools may be used in the process of creating or maintaining deadwood on bonsai. Pliers are used to grip and break off branches for jin, and are also useful for ripping off strips of bark for jin or shari. Manual tools like graving chisels, burins, and blades can carve detail into the surface of the jins or shari, since real or simulated woodgrain is an important characteristic of deadwood on a bonsai. Recent years have seen bonsai practitioners adopt powered tools for deadwood work, particularly small rotary tools for carving and grinding. When shaping is completed, a gas torch burns off remaining small shreds of wood fiber and helps raise the grain in a newly-exposed piece of wood. Finally, wire brushes and sanding aids remove toolmarks and simulate weathering.

Once deadwood has been shaped to the designer's plan, the exposed area is treated with a bleaching preservative. The most common is a horticultural combination of lime and sulfur, available from many garden outlets. The preservative protects the wood from rot and pest infestation, and provides a uniform bleaching that resembles weathered, aged wood. If the lime-sulfur mixture used, it is usually colored with a small amount of dark paint to make it look more natural. Without paint pigments, the lime-sulfur solution bleaches wood to a bone-white color that takes time to weather and become natural-looking.