BillsBayou
Chumono
Hulk no carve. Hulk smash.
What if the heartwood of a trunk was pre-shattered when it came time to carve it out?
What if I didn't CUT off the top of a bald cypress and instead, smashed the cut line to a pulp using a sledgehammer?
What if I had access to quarter sticks of dynamite?
Trees, wood in general, will fracture along natural lines when under stress. In bonsai, the problem with carving deadwood into a perfectly healthy tree is that we are taking whole, healthy trunks and artificially creating damage. There are plenty of great bonsai carvers out there doing great things with deadwood. But in general, there are plenty of us, me included, who cannot make the best deadwood on our own. A least, not out of healthy living wood.
That's where I began when I thought "What if the wood were pre-shattered?" The outer layers of the trunk are relatively healthy and full of vigor. Yet the long-term goal is to utilize the shattered heartwood to create more realistic deadwood features. When it comes time to carve a hollow, we remove the outer layers of living cambium and sapwood. We open a hole/hollow/gash just large enough for our design. Pliers and gouge tools can be used to find loose inner wood that may be easier to remove than wood that has been left whole. Stripping lengths of inner wood can be done with smaller holes than we would need to use in order to insert grinding and carving tools.
My thoughts then looked to ways of creating shattered heartwood. Guns, sledgehammers, pneumatic chisels, and explosives came to mind.
Bear with me. I have no idea if pre-shattered wood could be created. I have no idea if it would truly create better deadwood features. I have no idea if any species of tree would survive such a brutal treatment. I do, however, have ideas that I want to test.
A good start would be to begin with a species that can recover from my seriously f'ed up imagination. Larger yamadori would offer the best results as well as potentially being more able to withstand the torture. A selected tree should measure 3-4 inches (7.5-10cm) and have a healthy solid core. Then just dig it up. Wrap the trunk with raffia. Use a sledgehammer to pulp the trunk just above where you would normally cut the tree. Use the same sledge to crack the trunk in a few places.
Things to consider when pulping instead of cutting:
With sledgehammers and handheld freedom devices ruled as potential tools, I'll now turn to explosives. These are not really a viable option for Mr. Bill. First off, I know nothing about licensing and regulation of explosives. Second, I don't like the idea of jail. Third, I don't have, and don't want access to explosive devices and/or compounds. How to acquire or make these things is not and will not be found in my search history. There were rumors that I created an incendiary device in middle school that could be triggered by spitting into it. I assure you, that's just a rumor.
There you have it. My latest dumb/crazy idea. These kinds of things pop into my head all day long. Sifting through all that garbage to find something worth trying is hard work. By the way, placing highly radioactive glass next to seedlings had a significant impact on the number of seedlings I now have. Pond cypress, taxodium ascendens, had the most problems with it.
Here's another thought: What if we didn't rely on God to teach us how to create jin? What if we trusted that to a Lichtenberg machine? A short, sharp, shock.
Note to self: Find transformer for neon sign. Electrocute first, copper wire second. Keep feet dry.
Upcoming Schedule
September: Look for a meteor-struck trees.
January: Bludgeon some poor helpless trees within an inch of their lives.
March: Irradiate more seedlings.
Meanwhile, I'll be watering trees with icewater to see if my false-color thermal camera can pick up any reaction. I'm trying to identify living tissue beneath the bark.
What if the heartwood of a trunk was pre-shattered when it came time to carve it out?
What if I didn't CUT off the top of a bald cypress and instead, smashed the cut line to a pulp using a sledgehammer?
What if I had access to quarter sticks of dynamite?
Trees, wood in general, will fracture along natural lines when under stress. In bonsai, the problem with carving deadwood into a perfectly healthy tree is that we are taking whole, healthy trunks and artificially creating damage. There are plenty of great bonsai carvers out there doing great things with deadwood. But in general, there are plenty of us, me included, who cannot make the best deadwood on our own. A least, not out of healthy living wood.
That's where I began when I thought "What if the wood were pre-shattered?" The outer layers of the trunk are relatively healthy and full of vigor. Yet the long-term goal is to utilize the shattered heartwood to create more realistic deadwood features. When it comes time to carve a hollow, we remove the outer layers of living cambium and sapwood. We open a hole/hollow/gash just large enough for our design. Pliers and gouge tools can be used to find loose inner wood that may be easier to remove than wood that has been left whole. Stripping lengths of inner wood can be done with smaller holes than we would need to use in order to insert grinding and carving tools.
My thoughts then looked to ways of creating shattered heartwood. Guns, sledgehammers, pneumatic chisels, and explosives came to mind.
Bear with me. I have no idea if pre-shattered wood could be created. I have no idea if it would truly create better deadwood features. I have no idea if any species of tree would survive such a brutal treatment. I do, however, have ideas that I want to test.
A good start would be to begin with a species that can recover from my seriously f'ed up imagination. Larger yamadori would offer the best results as well as potentially being more able to withstand the torture. A selected tree should measure 3-4 inches (7.5-10cm) and have a healthy solid core. Then just dig it up. Wrap the trunk with raffia. Use a sledgehammer to pulp the trunk just above where you would normally cut the tree. Use the same sledge to crack the trunk in a few places.
Things to consider when pulping instead of cutting:
- How far down towards the base of the tree would the damage go when pulping the cut line?
- I doubt I could cut through the trunk by pulping the cut line. More likely, I'll reach a point where it looks pulped enough or I have a heart attack from swinging my sledgehammer.
- The heartwood should crack without the cambium coming away from the trunk on all sides (girdling the tree).
- Sapwood is necessary for water transport. How the hell will the tree respond with areas of shattered sapwood?
- Raffia won't do the trick. This will likely take bicycle inner tube rubber to hold the trunk together during it's beating.
- Raffia could be used to wrap the trunk after cracking it. Adventitious buds can break through raffia easier than inner tube rubber. I've seen adventitious buds break through vet wrap, but it looks like an ordeal.
- For good fracture of the trunk, the trunk will need to be elevated on a durable surface to compensate for the root ball and base of the tree.
- The surface holding the tree should have a piece of plywood beneath it. Just thick enough to buffer the blows without creating a detailed outline of the surface opposite the striking face.
- Do I crack the heartwood along just one side of the tree? If I rotate the trunk to continue cracking, how far do I rotate the tree?
- Should I smash the front, sides, or back of the tree?
- Large yamadori can be split into two as part of its development. That's typically done with sharp tools. Using a blunt instrument like a sledgehammer could get a similar result but with a very different look to what remains.
With sledgehammers and handheld freedom devices ruled as potential tools, I'll now turn to explosives. These are not really a viable option for Mr. Bill. First off, I know nothing about licensing and regulation of explosives. Second, I don't like the idea of jail. Third, I don't have, and don't want access to explosive devices and/or compounds. How to acquire or make these things is not and will not be found in my search history. There were rumors that I created an incendiary device in middle school that could be triggered by spitting into it. I assure you, that's just a rumor.
There you have it. My latest dumb/crazy idea. These kinds of things pop into my head all day long. Sifting through all that garbage to find something worth trying is hard work. By the way, placing highly radioactive glass next to seedlings had a significant impact on the number of seedlings I now have. Pond cypress, taxodium ascendens, had the most problems with it.
Here's another thought: What if we didn't rely on God to teach us how to create jin? What if we trusted that to a Lichtenberg machine? A short, sharp, shock.
Note to self: Find transformer for neon sign. Electrocute first, copper wire second. Keep feet dry.
Upcoming Schedule
September: Look for a meteor-struck trees.
January: Bludgeon some poor helpless trees within an inch of their lives.
March: Irradiate more seedlings.
Meanwhile, I'll be watering trees with icewater to see if my false-color thermal camera can pick up any reaction. I'm trying to identify living tissue beneath the bark.
) might significantly damage the root mass
