Only got it because I liked the look of it and it was a great price for the size! 
I disagree Maple. Reason is, I don't think that's a graft at all. I think it's a big wound. The foliage on the top part of the tree and the branch growing from below the wound is identical. So, I think the route for this tree is to air layer off the very top part of the main trunk (somewhere round the red line) and then once the layer is removed, cut it right down to the first branch for a much smaller tree with great taper (somewhere near the yellow line). In time you can reduce the height of the remaining piece down to somewhere near the green line.maple wrote:In my opinion this maple is not a good starter tree. The dead wood at the graft will not heal over and more times than not, the graft join will be noticle for life. You would be far better off sticking the tree in the ground and forgetting about it as a Bonsai. In my opinion, you would get a faster result and a better tree starting with a 2yo cutting and starting from scratch.
I think you'll spend a lot of time on something that will always be ordinary with an unacceptable defect.
Having said that, plenty of people have made the same choices. Some people learn from them and end up with good trees.
A local Bonsai Group would be a good start if you're looking for help.
Agree with you 100% on the fact that not enough people learn to buy good stock early enough!!!! Yay! That said, this fella now has the tree, so he can do one of two things. Either he can plant it out and forget it, or he can work on making a bonsai and learn from it. I guess that's up to him, but I'm not sure that I agree that a scar that size necessarily means it's disqualified as a tree. No reason why a maple can't have uro, and make a feature of it. It could be carved out, cleaned up and accentuated. Just an idea, but either way there's lessons learnt here, and that's a good thing right!maple wrote:You are most likely right about the graft after another look (I had the laptop on my knee while watching Die hard last night) but the point is that scar and base are of no use in Bonsai. That deadwood would also travel a long way down. The aerial layers were already suggested and your positions sound very good.
I still believe a new enthusiast would be better off buying a young, healthy stock with no gross defects so he can learn to find the front of a tree, the first branch and wire etc. Too many times people buy crap from a hardware store because it's big,cheap and think they can make a silk purse from a pigs ear.
I also think too many new people aren't told this and end up with poor quality collections. These trees don't just get spoken about in this forum- they are in Clubs at workshop nights. I'm sure you have seen them as well.
There will be many opinions about this- I just got one of them.
and I think it's all pretty good. You will have lots to think about before acting, and I think this should be a really good tree to learn on. I think the most important thing is to look up your local club and meet with them. It's much easier to see the real character, problems, and potential of a tree in person. Not to downplay this forum, which is fantastic. Good luck, I look forward to seeing updates as you work with this. 
that was you get a full view of the tree! 
