AusBonsai

jamie111 wrote:and i will check out walters tridents too

This image came up during a search ('trident+maple+shohin') and Walter's entire blog can be seen here. It is well worth bookmarking, as there is too much high-quality content here to view in a single sitting.

MelaQuin wrote:Lime sulphur is good stuff.

I recall a lengthy discussion at bonsaiTALK a year or so ago in which Mr Pall was one of a very small minority who insisted that there was no need to treat the deadwood of deciduous trees with lime sulphur. From memory, his argument was that deciduous trees rot out in nature, and that a healthy tree should not be at risk from rot. When others cited cases of trees in the wild which had 'succumbed' to rot (and, by extension, to disease(?)), the discussion turned to the theory that such trees had failed structurally and not physiologically. That is, that the rot had removed/weakened so much heartwood that the sapwood shell was no longer able to support the tree, in which case it would collapse. In Bonsai practice, a healthy Trident Maple should put on more sapwood in a year than rot could take away, thus collapse is a non-issue. (At least that is what I think I got from the discussion - it was a long time ago.)

anttal63 wrote:DO NOT DO NOW!

winter when the tree is dormant or you will get die back.

I cannot comment on the timing of the deadwooding process on my Trident: the damage to the lower trunk was wholly unintentional, and it occurred during the height of Summer when the bark suffered a nasty case of sunburn. (That said, the deadwood work I am doing on my Pyrus was started in Spring last year and I have seen no ill-effects: if anything, the bark is advancing and not receding.)

Anyway, there's some food for thought. I look forward to seeing how you progress with these great little Tridents!

Fly.

once foliage has hardened off on a deciduous, i would not carve. doesnt mean you wont get away with it. enter at own risk.

mel- thanks for the info, i will be working on a design before i even touch the tree with a rotarty tool

ant- thanks for that, i wasnt quite sure on this whether it would be better to do the carving during spring where the tree will be able to grow over it well, or wait until the dormancy, and from your second post your tepting me to play with fire arent you...

stymie- that is an awesome tree mate. it gives good inspiration!

pup- i seen you she oak post when you put it up and found it interesting, i will bookmark it so i can reference the details on the carving techniques.

fly- you bring up some interesting things here. i wonder if anyone else has come across this? whether it contradicts the discussion or not? will have to keep this going i think i am checking out walters blog now, thanks for the tip to look at that.

thanks to everyones input on this, as i havent had much experience carving with deciduous, done a little on junipers, but not to a huge scale!
i am very keen to start work on these little tridents but it might be wise for me to hold off for a little bit for now!

thanks again.

regards jamie

alright! i just got word that i should receive these two little beauties tomorrow!!!

cant wait

hey guys!

i got my two little tridents today.....WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
and i must say they are more amazing in person than in the pictures for sure!
very happy with my purchase!

i sat there for about an hour just admiring them with a hundred thoughts going through my head!

now this weekend is gonna be very interesting for me! i will be getting some thinner wire than what i have as i only have 4mm at the moment, i need some finer wire to do the finer branching, then from there im not sure where to go

advice in styling etc. always welcomed.

thanks guys.

regards jamie!

Glad they arrived safely. Enjoy them and keep us up to date with their progress.

Jow wrote:Glad they arrived safely. Enjoy them and keep us up to date with their progress.

will do mate, appreciate them:D extremely happy with them, thanks!

what i did forget to say sorry jow,(just got to excited bout the trees) i recieved them really well, very smooth process with you, and very well packed recomend you as a seller if you do any more mate, would be a pleasure to deal with ya again

ok guys, im trying to decide an optimum veiwing angle on these two.

now jow posted the same pics in the market place so we will have to work with them for now until i take more tomorow, but im looking at a couple of them and see them a bit different from jow in the sense of front choices etc.
trident 2 i can see a complete spin around 180 as a new "front. and with trident 1 where the large scar is, is actually off to the back left side a little more, but i think this could be carved into a feature, what i see there is the tree was weakened in the trunk from wind and/or rot where a branch had fallen off and the trunk of the tree had rotted out leaving it hollow? what do you guys think?

so i will post the pics and write in what jow had as front,side etc, and what i think would be better possible front, side etc.

opinions on this will be greatly appreciated. so all you masters out there let me know ok

hey guys!

some more of the work i have done today, after carefull contemplation on these two tridents i decided to do some carving, one a fair bit more drastic then the other.

the one with the large scar i decided to take right out and there was a uro on the other side... this is now a hollow now when i done it i wasnt quite sure about how it looked either but it has started growing on me, a lot, i will still need to do more work on the larger area where the scar was but for now my hands are still vibrating i will be waiting a couple of weeks before i prepare the area for a hardener and protection, just because there was a few minor nicks to the cambium layer, these need to heal first.

the second smaller twin trunk just got a bit of refinement, the smaller uro have just been made a little deeper and they will need a darker lime sulpher sumi ink mix to give it some depth, as above i will wait a few weeks just incase, i didnt nick the live tissue on this one though

i think my bonsai addiction now has a side habit.....CARVING!!!! man i love my rotary tool!!

there is a shot in there of the thicker trident, trident 1 that is of when i got it as a comparison to how it is now, it is pushing some strong growth got be happy with that i am

any way here they are

regards jamie

and just looking through this thread again i think i have to carve more like the trident fly has put up for inspiration ?????????