A little progression series on the reduction I've done to a privet this year. This was one of the first bonsai I tried to create when I started getting into the hobby a few years ago. Initial styling was pretty nasty with long branches without much movement.
I was dissatisfied with the proportions of the tree and last year in September I bit the bullet to reduce the overall size of the tree. The tree has a nice curve which I wanted to accentuate and frame the tree around. I have had strong growth since which has allowed me to do some initial styling.
This week I did some power carving to remove the large scars from big cuts from when I first dug the tree out of the garden years ago. Tools used were Kaizen's terrier, weasel, proteus on a Makita GDO-600 die grinder, then detail work was done with Kaizen's 3.2mm spiral wood carving tool on an Ozito rotary hobby tool (with flex shaft).
Branches and overall shape still require development but I think its been good progress.
- Nick
Before the chop in September
After the chop
Growth by the end of November
Growth to this week (mid Feb)
The ugly scars I wanted to carve out
After the carving
