Bending a Black Pine

[Ray M]

Hi folks,
Last week at the School Of Bonsai we were looking at doing heavy bends. I went looking through my trees to see if I could fine something suitable. I found a Black Pine and a Juniper that need some serious bends. The following photos show what I've done with the Black Pine.
This tree is one of the air layers I've done from a large Pine I use for demonstrating layers. I removed a couple of bottom branches that were being used to thicken up the base. The tree had some bends and I thought it had potential to be made into a Shohin size tree.

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The following is what the tree looks like after bending.

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I used 16mm diameter Rio Bar to support the tie wires used for the bends. The Colander or plastic pot isn't really strong enough to carry the forces used to get these bends.
The tree was wrapped with Raffia. Support wire was placed over the areas that would need the largest bends. The RED line indicates where I placed two lengths of 4.5mm diameter wire, and the YELLOW line indicates where I placed two lengths of 4mm diameter wire. After the wires were tied in place the tree was wrapped with Raffia again.

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The RED ARROWS indicate where the tie wire were placed. Because I wanted acute bends the wire ties help to achieve this rather then just wiring the tree and trying to get acute bends.

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Now the waiting time begins. It will take several years to get a reasonable tree and a number of years to increase the ramification.

Regards Ray

[robb63]

Another excellent presentation Ray. Clear as a bell and easy to follow
Thankyou
Bob.

[melbrackstone]

Looks good Ray, did you hear any cracks?

[Ray M]

Looks good Ray, did you hear any cracks?

Hi Mel,
No, not a sound. Using the large diameter wires helps a lot.

Regards Ray

[Ray M]

Another excellent presentation Ray. Clear as a bell and easy to follow
Thankyou
Bob.

Hi Bob,
Thanks for your comments. Hope it helps some people.

Regards Ray

[melbrackstone]

No, not a sound. Using the large diameter wires helps a lot.

That's good to know, I'll look forward to seeing this develop! Thanks for the in depth tute.

[kcpoole]

No, not a sound. Using the large diameter wires helps a lot.

That's good to know, I'll look forward to seeing this develop! Thanks for the in depth tute.

Pines are quite soft and flexible for the size of the trunk. They take to being bent easily

Ken

[Ray M]

No, not a sound. Using the large diameter wires helps a lot.

That's good to know, I'll look forward to seeing this develop! Thanks for the in depth tute.

Pines are quite soft and flexible for the size of the trunk. They take to being bent easily

Ken

Hi Mel and Ken,
Thanks Ken. Both Pines and Junipers are very good to work on if you need to apply heavy bends. We did some more work on one of the other teachers tree. The trunk was at least twice as large as this tree. The trunk was bent back on itself. I guess it would have been bent 150/160 degrees.

Regards Ray

[melbrackstone]

I'll be avinago

Cheers

[apgar000]

Nicely done, something I need to work towards!


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