Hi folks.

[rockm]

I know that’s the common advice although to me it doesn’t make sense. (No offence)
I do prefer to work with older materials were mainly needs root development, branch building and healing cuts.

Great approach using old material from the start (and knowing how to do it effectively). I see a lot of people (and I was one of them) hacking away at nursery material for years. While that's OK, using older collected stuff early leads to better bonsai down the road. Thirty years from now, this tree will likely be your favorite or among your favorites. Took me a few years to "get" using old collected trees as a starting point. It accelerated my bonsai learning exponentially.

Twenty five years' work:

 

[Tieball]

Thank you, I still need to look for a tool to finish of the details I’m undecided between a dremel and a makita die grinder.
From the front it doesn’t look to bad I just thought it could work at hiding the branch cuts wile giving the tree an aged look.

I use a Dremel because it gives me more intricate control and while it’s slower compared to a die grinder I take that as a good thing. And, I don’t have a due grinder. I prefer slower controlled removal for a more natural appearance. And the wood I remove won’t grow back so I take my time and enjoy the process. One of my favorite bits is a sphere with carbide spikes all over it. The sphere removes wood well and creates rougher lines when used with the grain. Sphere clean up is easy….just burn the wood fibers off.

 

[Sixty’s]

Great approach using old material from the start (and knowing how to do it effectively). I see a lot of people (and I was one of them) hacking away at nursery material for years. While that's OK, using older collected stuff early leads to better bonsai down the road. Thirty years from now, this tree will likely be your favorite or among your favorites. Took me a few years to "get" using old collected trees as a starting point. It accelerated my bonsai learning exponentially.

Twenty five years' work:

Thank you, that is a stunning tree you have there with a stunning movement.

 

[Sixty’s]

I use a Dremel because it gives me more intricate control and while it’s slower compared to a die grinder I take that as a good thing. And, I don’t have a due grinder. I prefer slower controlled removal for a more natural appearance. And the wood I remove won’t grow back so I take my time and enjoy the process. One of my favorite bits is a sphere with carbide spikes all over it. The sphere removes wood well and creates rougher lines when used with the grain. Sphere clean up is easy….just burn the wood fibers off.
View attachment 521062

Thank you for the advice, That was my impression, most of my carving is small I’ve never used a dremel my biggest concern always has been if they would do the larger jobs without burning.

 

[czaczaja]

Mr. Stubby

 

[Tieball]

Thank you for the advice, That was my impression, most of my carving is small I’ve never used a dremel my biggest concern always has been if they would do the larger jobs without burning.

I practiced carving with my Dremel on tree trunks I dug up from my forested area. Any trunk, or thick branch, will work for practice carving. Nice if the trunk, or branch, is the same species as trees to be carved later, however sameness is not an absolute requirement. It’s a good way to learn control, see what happens with various bits, and how results look before carving real bonsai trees. It was fun because mistakes didn’t matter…mistakes were learning opportunities….toss the trunk or branch out and start again. I also learned about how to fix-carve a trunk after a mistake.

 

[HorseloverFat]

¿Qué onda?
Pōsōh, āneq nap!
Greetings, wanderer!

Our smoke signals must've reached your field of vision. The festivities were quite intense that night, glad you sealed your journey in one piece. Do not be frightened at the rustling and eyes from the brush, tis simply the woody dwarves, shyly observing your arrival.

This place ROCKS... like an amazing communal public library of knowledge and experience.. take all you need, now. Then when you are ready, start filling them shelves for yourself.

Pleasure to make your acquaintance..


Nice PRUNUS! I love working with local "cherries".

I am not familiar with incasa .. will it's bark get even darker with more age?

 

[pandacular]

I find myself beginning to agree that I’m mostly only interested in collected material or material that has been grown from the beginning as bonsai (usually for shohin and deciduous). Crawling around a nursery can be entertaining, but most of my trees found that way don’t seem that they’ll amount to much!

I also like collected material because it almsot necessitates working with more local speices.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Was thinking long and hard about this topic the other day when reading different threads, focusing on the trends and commonalities on the forum.

There‘s lots of divergent points of view in the bonsai world. Yet bonsai is a big and ever expanding umbrella where everyone is welcome!

The results of my pondering yielded results that seem so simple to me, it took an effort to actually post these, yet this thread is a good example that fits in with what I was thinking about.

Some folks like the older collected material so they can focus on styling. Results can come fast.

Others enter using nursery material due to budget. These folks need to learn a different type of selection and styling.

There are folks work from seedlings and cuttings, building trees from the ground up over the years, while learning styling along the journey. Carefully done, fine results happen and a whole lot gets learned along the way. (See below group.)

Then there are other hobbyists. Those who work all angles at once, learning the characteristics of trees from every level at the same time. This choice can be very taxing. Yet it makes a hobbyist very well rounded, understanding every facet and nuance of the hobby, similar to the groip above, yet in a collapsed timeframe.

So many options, yet the base knowledge that is needed by every hobbyist is that of proper horticulture for each tree in their collection at very development stage. Without this knowledge nothing moves forward.

Acquiring a sense of the principles and elements of style and physical techniques (air layering, grafting, bending, carving, wiring, display etc.) to aid in this work is a full time job… but only after a mastery of horticulture for each tree is acquired.

Anyways, just some thoughts…

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Sixty’s]

¿Qué onda?
Pōsōh, āneq nap!
Greetings, wanderer!

Nice PRUNUS! I love working with local "cherries".

I am not familiar with incasa .. will it's bark get even darker with more age?

Thank you, its a prunus incisa, more commonly known as Fuji cherry or Kojo-no-mai, it’s unusually larger than other cherry’s from the same species due to the roots have fused with the roots of a wild cherry that was planted nearby. The bark is fairly dark although I have done some lime sulphur this year to try and eradicate the eggs and larvae of a pest that is attacking the tree, I’ve used nematodes last spring without any success, will be trying them again this coming spring just to be sure.

 

[Agr247]

Hi folks, I’m new here although not new to the hobby, I’ve started the hobby in 2021, read mostly during that year and decided that I wanted to start all my trees from field grown material, I now have a few trees ( all I’m early stages).
Looking forward to increase my knowledge from reading some of your threads on here.

I’ve attached a picture of one of my favourite material, still in early stage (2 years) prunus incisa

View attachment 520970

Thank you {Welcoming} Nice Tree

 

[Agr247]

Was thinking long and hard about this topic the other day when reading different threads, focusing on the trends and commonalities on the forum.

There‘s lots of divergent points of view in the bonsai world. Yet bonsai is a big and ever expanding umbrella where everyone is welcome!

The results of my pondering yielded results that seem so simple to me, it took an effort to actually post these, yet this thread is a good example that fits in with what I was thinking about.

Some folks like the older collected material so they can focus on styling. Results can come fast.

Others enter using nursery material due to budget. These folks need to learn a different type of selection and styling.

There are folks work from seedlings and cuttings, building trees from the ground up over the years, while learning styling along the journey. Carefully done, fine results happen and a whole lot gets learned along the way. (See below group.)

Then there are other hobbyists. Those who work all angles at once, learning the characteristics of trees from every level at the same time. This choice can be very taxing. Yet it makes a hobbyist very well rounded, understanding every facet and nuance of the hobby, similar to the groip above, yet in a collapsed timeframe.

So many options, yet the base knowledge that is needed by every hobbyist is that of proper horticulture for each tree in their collection at very development stage. Without this knowledge nothing moves forward.

Acquiring a sense of the principles and elements of style and physical techniques (air layering, grafting, bending, carving, wiring, display etc.) to aid in this work is a full time job… but only after a mastery of horticulture for each tree is acquired.

Anyways, just some thoughts…

cheers
DSD sends

With substantial benefits along way...

 

[Sixty’s]

Was thinking long and hard about this topic the other day when reading different threads, focusing on the trends and commonalities on the forum.

There‘s lots of divergent points of view in the bonsai world. Yet bonsai is a big and ever expanding umbrella where everyone is welcome!

The results of my pondering yielded results that seem so simple to me, it took an effort to actually post these, yet this thread is a good example that fits in with what I was thinking about.

Some folks like the older collected material so they can focus on styling. Results can come fast.

Others enter using nursery material due to budget. These folks need to learn a different type of selection and styling.

There are folks work from seedlings and cuttings, building trees from the ground up over the years, while learning styling along the journey. Carefully done, fine results happen and a whole lot gets learned along the way. (See below group.)

Then there are other hobbyists. Those who work all angles at once, learning the characteristics of trees from every level at the same time. This choice can be very taxing. Yet it makes a hobbyist very well rounded, understanding every facet and nuance of the hobby, similar to the groip above, yet in a collapsed timeframe.

So many options, yet the base knowledge that is needed by every hobbyist is that of proper horticulture for each tree in their collection at very development stage. Without this knowledge nothing moves forward.

Acquiring a sense of the principles and elements of style and physical techniques (air layering, grafting, bending, carving, wiring, display etc.) to aid in this work is a full time job… but only after a mastery of horticulture for each tree is acquired.

Anyways, just some thoughts…

cheers
DSD sends

I agree, working with older material does shorten some of the waiting time in growing a tree from a seedling although many may not choose that path purely out of concern with the logistics involved in the collection and aftercare.
In the United Kingdom is illegal to collect trees from any land unless you have the owners permission making this route a little more complicated for many, I tend to keep by collecting trees from private gardens that are advertised online at fair prices, i still remember how nervous I was the first time I went out to collect my first one.
I didn’t had the right tools and it took me a lot more time than I thought it would take to remove the tree, today is a walk in the park and I can get in and out in less than 30 minutes.

Below is another tree that I’ve collected in
February 2023, I like to work with all sorts off material although there is a different satisfaction from having older material that don’t cost a arm and a leg, I hope that some of my threads could illustrate that large trees don’t always have to be expensive to acquire as long as we are willing to put some work to it.

 

[rockm]

Very nice!

 

[Sixty’s]

Very nice!

Thank you