What a carve up

Pictures please. Pictures of problem areas on your trees. Pictures of areas on real trees. As many as possible to save in a folder and try to replicate. I (and hopefully others) will do our best to show you every tool used and how to use it........Safely.

Hi Will,

I'm not really sure what you're asking for here, it sounds really interesting though.

Are you looking for photos of trees that need carving or photos of trees that have been carved?

I can post 3 or 4 photos of some of my trees that I think need carving if that helps.

Paul

Hello Paul. Photos of trees that have areas that need carving, or areas of deadwood on real trees, that you would like to know how to replicate.

will baddeley wrote:Hello Paul. Photos of trees that have areas that need carving, or areas of deadwood on real trees, that you would like to know how to replicate.

I have ton of those (trees that needs good carving, reserving the work 'til this day comes)...
I'll take photos.

thanks Will!

regards,
jun

THANK you very much!
My material would be the most humble but I will not hesitate.... because I WANT to be taught! (...just a beginner you know)
I look forward to read and see all the other responses of quality trees and the techniques that should be used on them.

I think that you will find this very challenging then!!! A carob tree....

hi will
a large elm not sure how to treat the scar from the main trunk chop
thanks andy








these pictures are a few years old...the tree is under three feet of snow right now so i cany take any new pics
but the scar hasnt changed to much. i was considering cutting all the trunks back to about twelve inches and starting over with a much shorter tree
it is currently thirty four inches high and has filled into a nice full forest image
thanks for your help

Hey Will - a great idea for a thread.
For inspiration from mother nature here are a couple of pictures.
One big difference I see between them and the deadwood features on most bonsai (with such features).... is that in the wild they can be very rough, ragged looking whereas in bonsai they are treated to make everything smooth using power tools, burning and sand blasting? Not saying that either is better just making an observation.
Cheers from the misty pacific north west.
Graham

Great topic, and very timely for me as I just started working on the dead branches of this garden yamadori yew yesterday. Some of the branches are 9cm thick. Have fun!

Dave

hope these are of use. great thread.

Some great examples there, so keep them coming. I'll just say with the Yew that they don't tear very well and its best to combine with machine carving.

Beautiful deadwood on a flaky old pine

Bob Brunt wrote:Beautiful deadwood on a flaky old pine

I know that tree Bob... Shhhhhhh! fingers on lips

Thanks Bob. Tony. You must have some excellent examples of natural deadwood to share?

This Acer rubrum is an old collected tree. The interior was carved out because of rotted wood. The back roots are very chunky and need some carving to help the roots flare into the soil in a convincing way. I'm not sure where to go other than carving into the wood. I have considered raising the soil level to encourage rooting.
Todd

Excellent idea for a thread Will. And no better person to propose it, methinks!
How about re-introducing us to the scalpel carving you did on your lovely Elm? It bears repeating.

I'll have a root around in my archives, I've got some useful pics somewhere......

Good to see you back Steve. The Scalpel carving will be part of the tutorial. Lots of pics so far but could do with some more.

Here is a mountain Hemlock....no its not dead (yet) look closely as the lower right side as it is still alive....barely though. Knowing the snowload that this area gets, this tree is probably covered most of the winter in the white stuff It also shows features that you don't see on bonsai, dead bark just hanging on, flacky sapwood and lichen (old mans beard). Maybe I should buck off the top just above the shovel handle and bring it home on my next collection trip?

Cheers

Here are three pics of natural deadwood. This is a juniper that is unfortunately entirely dead.

Roger

Here are a couple of shots of natural Ponderosa pine deadwood.

Roger

Thanks Gman and Roger. Plenty to play with there. I particularly like the lifted sections of deadwood on the ponderosa.

I haven't been away, Will. I just haven't had much to say of late.

Anyway, I've posted this pic before, but I think it deserves a place in this thread. (I bought this pic from the Nat Geo website, if anyone is concerned about copyright). I wanted to do a close up of the deadwood, but Photobucket's editing suite only allows reductions.



I'll keep looking through my pics for more, Will.

I love the dead Juniper, Roger. I'd be tempted to take it home anyway! Just imagine the tanuki you could make with that!!!

Unfortunately the juniper skeleton is a little too big to bring home. Here is some perspective.

Wow what a whopper Roger. Shame it's dead but the graining is sublime.