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When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: June 23rd, 2009, 9:31 pm
by daiviet_nguyen
Hi,

Jow has discussed hardwood drilling to bend heavy branches in
this post.

Quote from Jow:
Basically the technique involves drilling a hole on the inside of
the proposed bend. Use a drill bit around 1/3 - 1/5th the diameter
of the material to be bent. Put a mark on the drill bit to ensure
that you don't drill too deep and go through the other side of the
trunk. you want it to go about 2/3 through the trunk. Once you
have a hole drilled insert the drill again and move it around in
all directions, effectively removing as much heart wood as possible
through the one hole. Move it up down and side to side. If it is
a really thick branch you may need to drill several of these holes
along the length of the bend. One hole will make a sharp bend where
as 3 or so along a 15cm section will make a more gradual bend.

Once the hole or holes are drilled Rafia the to be bent section
and add reinforcing wores. then bend as you would any other
branch. It should bend easily.

The best part about this technique is that it leaves very little
scaring. An older technique that i am sure you are familiar with
is the cut a wedge technique. I have always found this to leave
an ugly scar for a long time after its healed and i wouldn't use
it on very thick material.

Hope this makes sense.


I would like to try this technique on a black pine.

I would like to know when is the best Melbourne-time to do it?
If Melbourne mid-July is an appropriate time?

Thank you and best regards.

Re: When to do hardwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: June 23rd, 2009, 9:58 pm
by anttal63
go viet! as it has been nice and cold june and july are the best times. i have seen this done on conifers all year round though. its easy as, good luck pal! :D

ps the term is heartwood. ;)

Re: When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: June 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
by kcpoole
Hmm Verry thought provoking topic and technique which I had not seen before. I think I will have to experiment as it looks like a better method than cutting Wedges.

Anyone know how it will go on an Azalea?

I have one I want to bend quite severely and was thinking of cutting Wedges but thik might be even better

Ken

Re: When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: June 23rd, 2009, 11:46 pm
by anttal63
no idea on azaleas ken. have you done wedges on an azalea b4? im not sure either technique would be useful on an azalea. maybe someone whos tried it will chime in. :D

Re: When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: June 24th, 2009, 8:45 am
by daiviet_nguyen
Good morning,

Thank you for correcting the term -- I will not forget "heartwood" from now on :)

Hi Ken,

I cannot imagine this being applied to azaleas or maples -- simply because they do not bend
as readily as pines?

But I could be wrong.

I will post the work when I completed :)

Best regards.

Re: When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: September 6th, 2009, 6:03 pm
by daiviet_nguyen
I would just like to report my failure :x :x :x

The black pine I used for this drilling is the layered tree in this post:

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=317

I wanted to bend it down in the middle to parallel to the ground.

I did this on the 5/Jul/2009. I did not drill right or something, it
broke more than half way through at the point where I was bending it.

I left it there though. And today, 8 weeks later, I finally accepted it
that it did not make it. I cut it off. I still have the trunk with all
lower branches. I can make it into an informal upright tree :)

I repotted it today too. And there are lot of roots.

Best regards.

Re: When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: September 6th, 2009, 8:31 pm
by Jow
Did you support the back side of the bend with wire and rafia? I probably should have made that clear in the original thread. Although the drilling method makes bending easier, you still have to provide all the same precautions with wire and rafia re-enforcing much like any other large bend. If you did rafia, i am guessing it was applied to loosely. You really need to put it on as tightly as possibly.

I used this technique last weekend without rafia and just went by feel with a bending jack. Bending jacks allow you to go very slowly and stop at the point of breakage before it breaks clean through. If you do it without rafia you have to be very careful and go slowly to prevent catastrophic breakage. Even tho it bent i did get a large amount of damage that i could have avoided with rafia and wires. I guess thats what i get for being unprepared and impatient.

Re: When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: September 6th, 2009, 8:38 pm
by anttal63
sorry to hear that viet, i hope it doesnt discourage you in the future. have another go some time. :D

Re: When to do heartwood drilling on black pines?

Posted: September 10th, 2009, 8:38 pm
by daiviet_nguyen
Hi Jow,
Did you support the back side of the bend with wire and rafia? I probably should have made that clear in the original thread. Although the drilling method makes bending easier, you still have to provide all the same precautions with wire and rafia re-enforcing much like any other large bend. If you did rafia, i am guessing it was applied to loosely. You really need to put it on as tightly as possibly.

I used this technique last weekend without rafia and just went by feel with a bending jack. Bending jacks allow you to go very slowly and stop at the point of breakage before it breaks clean through. If you do it without rafia you have to be very careful and go slowly to prevent catastrophic breakage. Even tho it bent i did get a large amount of damage that i could have avoided with rafia and wires. I guess thats what i get for being unprepared and impatient.
That is exactly how I understand it. I could not find raffia, so I used grafting tapes instead. The instructions
are perfect, it was my executions that were flaw. I wired it then bended, I did not use a bending jack.

I just felt a bit sorry for myself -- especially after seeing it set in place, and feeling that it is not going to make it :)

It was a valuable lesson for me. But I did not lose the lot, so no major drama :)

Thanks for your encouragements Antonio. I would certainly like to attempt it again when the situation demands.

(I might come and haunt Jow for his supervisions :))

Best regards.