BillsBayou
Chumono
In May I extensively carved a bald cypress I've had since 1996. I treated it with lime sulfur as a stop-gap until I get to restyle the tree in Winter. I also wanted the wood to weather a bit more, and it has.
I want to go with Smith's CPES, but there's nearly nothing on the web about using it for bonsai.
I've been reading up, and I have found the following:
Lime Sulfur works as a fungicide and produces a nice white wood. It has to be reapplied at least yearly. I have limited success with it. If there is rot behind the surface, I'm looking a few years of good results, then everything will fall off.
Lime Sulfur can be tinted with India Ink or other pigments. My problem with this is that the grain of the wood can absorb the ink at differing rates. Then reabsorb it later when you're doing your annual lime sulfur treatment. Once you've started coloring the wood, you're stuck with it. It cannot be undone. Further, if you're carving movement into the deadwood, contrary to the wood grain, tinted lime sulfur will reveal the true grain of the wood. The movement of the carving will not look right.
Wood hardeners, such as Minwax, don't penetrate very deeply into the deadwood of the bonsai. Again, if you've got rot in there, your heart will be broken sooner or later. The trick with wood hardners is getting the wood to the perfect color before you harden off the wood. If you like lime-sulfur-white, that's it. You've got it.
White paint with Dr. Tichenor's. Yes. I heard that advice once. The pigment in the paint would soak into the grains and just screw everything up.
Titebond III. I use this for trunk chops on my bald cypress. I only mention it here because, like Minwax, if you have rot, or termites, behind the seal, it'll fail one day.
Paraloid is acrylic crystals you dissolve in acetone. Then just brush it onto the wood. The acetone draws the paraloid into the wood. When the acetone evaporates, it leaves the acrylic behind. I've only seen this mentioned in one place, but I'm curious how it comes out. I'm fairly certain that acetone is not good for the tree, so don't get it on the roots. And certainly not on your pot! Paraloid is also used as an acrylic coating material. I would imagine that if you did not wipe off the excess solution, that your tree will have a beautiful plastic coating. Kidding. You don't want that.
Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) is a cheap oil that can be used to preserve wood. You need to reapply the oil. It's not the better oil to use. It can go rancid and even mildew. BLO is also the toxic version of raw lindseed oil. Raw lindseed oil is not toxic, but it takes a very long time to dry.
Tung Oil seems to be the way to go if all you want to do is oil the wood. Be sure to buy pure tung oil. Certain famous furniture brands of tung oil have very little tung oil in them. It doesn't yellow, go rancid, or mildew. It is also more water resistant than BLO. It's also more expensive, but not prohibitively so for our use. Tung oil is also considered food-safe for surfaces, so you should be okay using this on the deadwood of your tree. (as opposed to certain copper-based fungicides, for example).
Smith's CPES was mentioned here on Bonsai Nut as the substance that Ryan Neil uses on his deadwood. Epoxies are used in boats to preserve wood or to treat rotted wood. Unlike Minwax, a penetrating epoxy will seep into seasoned wood where it will harden off. It has an added benefit of not changing the color of the wood. I don't know if that means a nice white or silver-oxidized bonsai deadwood will remain that color. I've seen some things that tell me that bonsai deadwood will retain it's color. I don't know how much of a gloss change there is by using a penetrating epoxy. My fear is that over time the cellulose of the deadwood will wear away at the surface and leave nothing but epoxy behind. This will be very noticeable and unattractive.
Smith's CPES has negative criticism over it's price compared to it's contents. CPES is a thinned epoxy. Denatured alcohol is added to it to help it penetrate the wood. Since epoxies can be made from many differing compounds, I'm going with Smith's because Ryan Neil uses it. If I had time, and trees, to experiment, I would likely find a less expensive alternative to Smiths that can be used safely on trees. Just add denatured alcohol, and the epoxy becomes a penetrating epoxy.
Secret Formulae: Graham Potter of Kaizen Bonsai, has two proprietary products for preserving deadwood. Both of these products have rather generic names and no hints as to what is inside of them. "Tree Gum" appears to be a resin regimen. Repeated treatments are meant to reproduce the hardening off of the core wood in conifers. I have no idea what he's using, and being in the US, I have no way to find out. The
The other secret formula is a Kaizen product called "Natural Deadwood Preserver". From reading the product description and application instructions, I get the idea that it is some sort of oil mixture. If I had to guess, I'd say tung oil, lemon oil, and denatured alcohol. But this is a silly wild ass guess with no facts to back it up. Again, I cannot import the product from the UK.
Any comments? Additions?
I want to go with Smith's CPES, but there's nearly nothing on the web about using it for bonsai.
I've been reading up, and I have found the following:
Lime Sulfur works as a fungicide and produces a nice white wood. It has to be reapplied at least yearly. I have limited success with it. If there is rot behind the surface, I'm looking a few years of good results, then everything will fall off.
Lime Sulfur can be tinted with India Ink or other pigments. My problem with this is that the grain of the wood can absorb the ink at differing rates. Then reabsorb it later when you're doing your annual lime sulfur treatment. Once you've started coloring the wood, you're stuck with it. It cannot be undone. Further, if you're carving movement into the deadwood, contrary to the wood grain, tinted lime sulfur will reveal the true grain of the wood. The movement of the carving will not look right.
Wood hardeners, such as Minwax, don't penetrate very deeply into the deadwood of the bonsai. Again, if you've got rot in there, your heart will be broken sooner or later. The trick with wood hardners is getting the wood to the perfect color before you harden off the wood. If you like lime-sulfur-white, that's it. You've got it.
White paint with Dr. Tichenor's. Yes. I heard that advice once. The pigment in the paint would soak into the grains and just screw everything up.
Titebond III. I use this for trunk chops on my bald cypress. I only mention it here because, like Minwax, if you have rot, or termites, behind the seal, it'll fail one day.
Paraloid is acrylic crystals you dissolve in acetone. Then just brush it onto the wood. The acetone draws the paraloid into the wood. When the acetone evaporates, it leaves the acrylic behind. I've only seen this mentioned in one place, but I'm curious how it comes out. I'm fairly certain that acetone is not good for the tree, so don't get it on the roots. And certainly not on your pot! Paraloid is also used as an acrylic coating material. I would imagine that if you did not wipe off the excess solution, that your tree will have a beautiful plastic coating. Kidding. You don't want that.
Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) is a cheap oil that can be used to preserve wood. You need to reapply the oil. It's not the better oil to use. It can go rancid and even mildew. BLO is also the toxic version of raw lindseed oil. Raw lindseed oil is not toxic, but it takes a very long time to dry.
Tung Oil seems to be the way to go if all you want to do is oil the wood. Be sure to buy pure tung oil. Certain famous furniture brands of tung oil have very little tung oil in them. It doesn't yellow, go rancid, or mildew. It is also more water resistant than BLO. It's also more expensive, but not prohibitively so for our use. Tung oil is also considered food-safe for surfaces, so you should be okay using this on the deadwood of your tree. (as opposed to certain copper-based fungicides, for example).
Smith's CPES was mentioned here on Bonsai Nut as the substance that Ryan Neil uses on his deadwood. Epoxies are used in boats to preserve wood or to treat rotted wood. Unlike Minwax, a penetrating epoxy will seep into seasoned wood where it will harden off. It has an added benefit of not changing the color of the wood. I don't know if that means a nice white or silver-oxidized bonsai deadwood will remain that color. I've seen some things that tell me that bonsai deadwood will retain it's color. I don't know how much of a gloss change there is by using a penetrating epoxy. My fear is that over time the cellulose of the deadwood will wear away at the surface and leave nothing but epoxy behind. This will be very noticeable and unattractive.
Smith's CPES has negative criticism over it's price compared to it's contents. CPES is a thinned epoxy. Denatured alcohol is added to it to help it penetrate the wood. Since epoxies can be made from many differing compounds, I'm going with Smith's because Ryan Neil uses it. If I had time, and trees, to experiment, I would likely find a less expensive alternative to Smiths that can be used safely on trees. Just add denatured alcohol, and the epoxy becomes a penetrating epoxy.
Secret Formulae: Graham Potter of Kaizen Bonsai, has two proprietary products for preserving deadwood. Both of these products have rather generic names and no hints as to what is inside of them. "Tree Gum" appears to be a resin regimen. Repeated treatments are meant to reproduce the hardening off of the core wood in conifers. I have no idea what he's using, and being in the US, I have no way to find out. The
The other secret formula is a Kaizen product called "Natural Deadwood Preserver". From reading the product description and application instructions, I get the idea that it is some sort of oil mixture. If I had to guess, I'd say tung oil, lemon oil, and denatured alcohol. But this is a silly wild ass guess with no facts to back it up. Again, I cannot import the product from the UK.
Any comments? Additions?
that didn't survive an ambitious dig quota. I'll going to head out at lunch (oh, look, it's lunch time now) to get a bottle of PC-Petrifier, and I'll test it as well. My test is to sand off the bark of the dead bald cypress, paint on a wide strip of lime sulfur, and treat both painted and unpainted areas with each of the products. Once cured, I'll make four cross-cuts for each of the hardeners and an unhardened section as a control. Let the best protectant win!
