AusBonsai

There comes a time in a man's life when he realizes he can't just use whatever he feels like to cut a branch off of his bonsai tree, especially if he wants it looking as good as possible. I am man that has come to this defining cross road in his so far short bonsai life. Yes some of you may think of me as a brute and an idiot up to this point but hey, better late than never right? Shears just don't cut the mustard.

Just wondering what peoples opinions are on either obtaining curved, straight, or both types of concave cutters? In short I understand that the curved cut gives a cut that causes the tree to heal much better, but if this is the point of them then why get the straight one?

I am probably going to look at getting a pair of knob cutters too, although I may not use them much I'm presuming I'll want to have them there for when they are needed.

Was there any other tool you guys would particularly suggest a beginner to get his very dirty hands on? I currently only have 6 trees in my possession (I know you're all impressed ) this is currently due to lack of space. All suggestions welcome on what is/isn't needed.

Thanks in advance,
Pearcy.

I have all 3 types of cutters, and rarely use the concave ones. I tend to use the concave one for a big cut where I want a shallower divot compared to the knob cutters. Also, if I used concave cutters all the time I suspect sharpening them would become an issue. By using them only a little, I haven't had to sharpen them yet. My guess is that they are hard to sharpen.

Use the straight ones on Azaleas. You do not want a concave hole when u remove the branch stub as the bark is thin and will not cover nicely.
I use my concave ones cleaning up branch cuts on most others

I use my concave cutters almost everyday, they are invaluable. I would go for knob cutters next then the straight ones.

Wondering IF we are all on the same page her ...

When looking at my tools, they all appear to be concave while being straight! with the notable exception of the Knob-cutter...

So for the sake of clarity, would you post a picture of each? That one might compare them and see what you call "straight" or "concave" ... forgive me for being Daft once more

point in case...

CoGRedeMptioN wrote:point in case...

images-1.jpeg

TMS9-2.jpg

Ahh apologies, maybe the title wasn't too clear.

So both I was talking about are concave branch cutters. Although they can come in 2 forms. Found a pic on the kaneshin site that may explain a little better then I can.

http://kaneshin.shop.multilingualcart.c ... _1-44.html

Ahhh. Well, I only have the straight one then.

While my trees are still small, I won't be needing a large selection of tools, so I only have the basics.

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

@ Pearcy. Whilst no expert, I use the branch cutters (straight) for most pruning tasks even on smaller trees that will eventually go into my garden (non-bonsai). This tool (Kaneshin) is as sharp as all get out, easy to use and makes a nice flush cut.. luv em.

I also have, and have used, a pair of knob cutters which have concave blades. (As an aside, why do we call a singular tool a 'pair'?) I'm still coming to grips with this tool as I have found that on thin bark trees, or trees that don't like to callous over scars, I tend to cut too deeply and once even damn near neutered the neighbours dog whilst pruning a Japanese Maple. This tool certainly has a place, but not sure it should be in a starter kit unless money is not a criteria.