Thetradingtree
Seedling
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What did you do today? Show us Pic Required
- Thread starter Underdog
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cmeg1
Imperial Masterpiece
Reflection in pottery?
I’ve been there!
These are from water reflections..and land together
The Barber
Chumono
Spent probably an hour unpacking my new bonsai tools that came in the mail today. I had made this purchase from American Bonsai a few weeks ago. The set came with waaaaaay more stuff than they show on the site to boot...I'll have to write up a full review on the Patriot set, but I really do love their tool designs. I also opted to have my initials engraved on both sides so they are easy to ID at club meetings etc. Not pictured are all the extra tidbits, of which there are a lot. Didn't expect there to be a really nice set of carving tools in the box.
Wulfskaar
Omono
Got to see a SpaceX launch from my front yard tonight! Been hearing sonic booms from these things, but never bothered to look. It was more spectacular from my house than I imagined.
Kievnstavick
Chumono
I did a perman-ary set-up shelf for my Scheflera in my office. Still needs a little winter thinning and correct to prevent the elongating shoots, but that will be at a later time. For now, it is out of my living room with a growlight shining from under. I'm sure the wife will be happy it doesn't blind her anymore.
RJG2
Omono
Okay, I had to....
$3295 / 80 tools (did I count correctly?) = $41.1875 per tool.
Given the single item price of some of their tools, that doesn't seem too bad.
The Barber
Chumono
I got tired of the bad tempering in my carbon steel tools, snapped the tip on 2 cutters on branches that shouldn't have. The inside of the snapped tips both had oxidation, so the steel had to have fractures from tempering I figure. Plus the cutting edges don't meet on American bonsai's mid to large cutters, so they don't dull nearly as fast from steel on steel. They bevel one edge so they don't actually meet directly like every other cutter I have owned.
Maiden69
Masterpiece
Check the sharpness on material that you won't be keeping. Both my rounded concave cutters (11 and Standard Series) arrived not properly sharpen, crushing the tissue instead of a nice cut. I used my DMT honing cone. It took quite a few passes but I was able to get a decent cut from them.
what even happened here...
The Barber
Chumono
I'm OCD about my edges so sharpness isn't the issue with them breaking, till a tool fails you cant really see a flaw in the tempering. You can usually shave with my bonsai tools. I've been a barber since 1999, and used to restore vintage straight razors as a hobby. I have way nicer hones than I ever required, including Japanese natural stones which cost far more than I'd ever admit. The harder stones work best on tools I find. Softer stones work great for razors that lie flat on the hone, but I find tools and knives are more likely dig into the stone and eventually lead to dishing of the hone. Vintage man-made "barber" hones honestly are great for touching up tools and razors as well and are reasonably easy to find, just make sure they have nice surfaces, many of them are pitted, they were designed for maintaining an edge on a razor. The key to sharp tools is to never let it get dull. With razors first a linen strop is used, then leather a strop is used to polish the razor bevel. Tools are quite similar honestly, especially carving tools as most wood carvers seek the same hones us barbers/straight razor users do. High carbon steel is much easier to maintain due to being a much softer steel that has flexibility but at the cost of corrosion resistance. Stainless steel is far less soft and much harder to sharpen, and if you've used many stainless kitchen knives, you've probably chipped the bevel on a knife before. Not sure if there is an in depth thread on sharpening bonsai tools, but I might make a video sometime with microscope shots of the edge etc, which really shows what goes on during the sharpening and edge refinement process.
Yeah, I need out over stuff like this, hope you guys can make sense of my ramblings.
Anyways, here's how they designed the bevel on their bigger tools, edge against edge during cutting really murders an edge. Not sure if any other companies design theirs this way, but the 2 cutters I have owned, the cutting edges made contact.
GreenGrowTheRushes
Sapling
Be hopeful. You might be pleasantly surprised come spring. Would like to know if they do.
I potted mine up as well, tucked them in their holding pen, scattered straw, fingers crossed.
GreenGrowTheRushes
Sapling
Maiden69
Masterpiece
I'm not a barber, but I have a few Japanese knives that I sharpen myself, and you could shave with them as well. I have several Japanese stones, not natural stones as I find them overkill for what I do. My Suehiro 1000/3000 combo and Suehiro Rika 5000 take care of most my sharpening. But I would never use them to sharpen any of me cutters, shears are fine with it, I have sharpened my wife's Hattori Hanzo shears, yes, she's a stylist and licensed barber LOL.
Now the cone is awesome for the rounded edge tools.
All my Kaneshin tools are the same, the edges don't meet.
Here is an example of the cut I was getting with the AB cutters out of the box. Crushed tissue, not good for healing at all. And this is on a ficus, that the wood is soft, can't imagine the damage on a maple.
My Kaneshin, nice cut.
Once I sharpened and true the edge of the AB they cut as well as the Kaneshin.
The Barber
Chumono
Yeah, I figured they'd need sharpened out of the box, most new cutting tools I buy go to the hones just to make sure they do what i need them to. Plus I rather enjoy sharpening.
Photo tax. Trunk on the cascade pondy I picked up recently. I really need to start locating some pots for these trees.
GSCarlson
Shohin
Gave the grow tent a good cleaning..
IzzyG
Shohin
Adopted a lodgepole pine.
shohin_branches
Chumono
That's how the cutters are supposed to be. All of mine are like that and I have a mix of manufacturers.
