Gabler
Masterpiece
As a kid I participated in this so-called “Envirothon“ program, and my specialty on the team was forestry. I talked to dozens of different foresters who all taught me that Carpinus caroliniana is called “ironwood,“ but occasionally “musclewood” or “blue beech.” It wasn’t until I started using this site a couple years ago that I first heard the term “American hornbeam.” I suspect the bonsai community in the U.S. adopted the U.K. term “hornbeam,” because much of our bonsai culture has come from the U.K., and we tend to base our approach to the species on the techniques used for the closely-related European hornbeam. Of course, that’s just a guess. Reality is often stranger than fiction.
That said, in my experience with wild Carpinus, the wood is very hard and dense, but it’s also brittle and rots fast. I tend to apply that knowledge to bonsai, and I reseal all cuts yearly until they heal over completely. I wouldn’t use a deadwood feature at all, but if you’re going to, I’d recommend preserving the wood, so it doesn’t rot all the way to live tissue and kill the tree, which is something I see frequently in wild trees. It’s why they put out new trunks at the root collar when the top is cut.
