Tools Used For Shaping Bonsai Trees – The Most Important Tools Used For Shaping Bonsai Trees

There are three tools that are essential to even beginning the process of shaping a tree for bonsai. First you need a pair of Shears, which will allow you to do the fine work of trimming in a small space. These scissors should be sharp and you should only use them for bonsai work. You may want to try a small set of pruning shears to start with.

The most important piece of equipment is Concave cutters; allow you to cut branches off of the tree and leave behind a concave wound. The wound will heal much faster than a straight cut, and will callous over in such a way as to make it very difficult to tell a cut has been made at all.

Another important piece of equipment is wire cutters. Sometimes you will want to position and train branches; for this you will use some chopper wire, which very flexible to bent, and after that sets and holds her position. You will need the wire cutters after completing this kind of work and you are satisfied with the shape and you will have to take off the wire. These wire cutters allow you to cut the wire right up to the tree’s bark, without harming the tree. Other tools could be very helpful in working with trees; they make certain tasks easier and allow you to do more things with your trees; but are not as necessary as the ones presented above:

– Knob Cutters are very similar to the concave cutters listed above, except that they have a spherical head, which allows you to cut branches and leave a small hollowed out scar.

– Sometimes you will have to deal with branches larger than the diameter of either concave or knob cutters; for this you should use a folding saw; are very important for working with big trees.

– When you are working with really small trees or really twiggy growth where it is hard to get larger shears in close you will need a pair of small scissors. If you have to deal with small trees or you want to do detail work on smaller trees.

– When you need to repot a tree, first you will need to clear away dirt from the root ball, for this you will need to have a root rake. It is used to comb out the roots and to remove dirt.

– Tweezers have all sorts of purposes in bonsai; from pinching back new growth and pruning to removing unwanted objects from your bonsai. Most bonsai tweezers will have a small trowel on the end, useful for patting down moss, sowing seeds, and many other odds and ends.