AusBonsai

Hi there crazy kids!!! With my dad being a barber for over 50 years and still going...............I was wondering (and this IS a minor point I guess - but interesting nevertheless) , do you think that bonsai trimmers should come with a finger rest like the barber's scissors below? Do you think that if you are the kind of person that does a lot of trimming that this would be an added bonus? ....or would it be a hindrance??? or would it only be handy for a bonsai tree that grows hair??? Prunus folliculus var. short back and sides

Am I the only person who has thought of this???? Would not surprise me seeing as I am always at the "Cutting edge" .......Get it?? Get it ?? Never mind!!! (Ooh cripes that would make a great name for a hair salon, although someone's probably already registered it)


Antonio I would be particularly interested in your view seeing as you cut hair.

PS Please don't be distracted by the dimensions of the rest of the scissors here as it is clearly not applicable.

If you do a lot od trimming the old fingers get a bit tired, so I say lets have finger rests.

Maybe I should have created this post as a poll aye??

Marco has come up with something like you suggest. Looks gimmicky but apparently they are very good. I am still not convinced though for $350 American
http://www.ichiban.it/

Antonio would be the man to ask

Hi Brett, my question does not relate to the "extreme design change" of the Ichiban. I was more curious as to whether existing conventional bonsai shears should come with a finger rest like the one displayed. I have to say that the Ichiban system definitely does not float my boat but then I have'nt tried it either so how would I know? I must say though the design looks very awkward. Maybe I'm just too set in my ways. Like you , I don't think most bonsai enthusiasts could justify the price of the Ichiban but how much extra would it cost to have a finger rest added to conventional bonsai shears??

Webos wrote:Antonio would be the man to ask

jester you couldnt be more right!!! i use old hairdressing scissors to defoliate. they are not set up to cut anything thicker than hair. i think at this point in time marco's are the go. $350 is a piss in the ocean. the scissors i cut hair with are $1150! thats only one pair. i use up to 3 different pairs on most haircuts. the ichibans might look awkward but i bet they feel like a glove. they are definately ergonomic handles. where there's an italian designing and the japanese manufacturing, great things are bound to happen. just a fact of life.

You can piss in my ocean anytime Antonio, $350 is more than our entire budget for Christmas for a family of 5, including 2 preschoolers..

While I appreciate the value of good tools, nothing makes me worry so much as the sentences my husband uses which contain both the word 'only' and the word 'dollars'.

[quote="Greth"]You can piss in my ocean anytime Antonio, [quote]

if ever im over there i'd love to pop in and cut ya hair, make ya feel like a princess . on me!

Antonio, as you are in quite a unique position, in terms of steel strength, does the edge on the barber's scissors last a lot longer? Or, to be more precise, if you used bonsai trimmers and barber's scissors for exactly the same tasks, for every 1 time you sharpened the barber's scissors, how often would you have to sharpen the japanese quality bonsai trimmers??
(And let's say for the purpose of this exercise you were constantly trimming fine shoots on a chinese elm)

P.S. Pls don't offer to cut my hair.!!! For those of you who don't understand, changing barbers is a capital offence. !! Once you've chosen , that's it, there's no going back. (Especially with the italian barbers) (Anyone every seen the movie Goodfellas)?? Antonio YOU KNOW what I'm talking about.!!!!!! Nothing worse than getting that phone call saying your loved one "ran into a few problems" 'cause they complained about the haircut, or it was $2 more than they wanted to pay and that they won't be coming home tonight!!!

A finger rest? I would rather have spring action. Surely that would be a more valuable addition to sidecutters, knobcutters, scissors and the like. I think a finger rest is a bit of a wank but to each his own. But bring on the spring action...which is why I normally use my pointed end secateurs - with spring action - for most of my pruning that does not require getting up close and personal with the trunk or a branch. I honestly cannot understand why this has not been promoted long since except good tools come from Japan and Japan is hidebound tradition.

Perhaps Tradition can also mean getting set in one's ways!!

After many years of trimming with traditional Japanese cutters, it's obvious they were designed for smaller hands as I usually end up with a blister, so as the old hands become more arthritic, I also find the spring action pointy shears are the way to go.
Cheers, Jonden

MelaQuin wrote:A finger rest? I would rather have spring action. Surely that would be a more valuable addition to sidecutters, knobcutters, scissors and the like. I think a finger rest is a bit of a wank but to each his own. But bring on the spring action...which is why I normally use my pointed end secateurs - with spring action - for most of my pruning that does not require getting up close and personal with the trunk or a branch. I honestly cannot understand why this has not been promoted long since except good tools come from Japan and Japan is hidebound tradition.

just so we all know what we are addressing here; the finger rest is called a "tang" and there is a purpose for it. hairdressing scissors have been designed that way for a long time, for good reason. not to just simply wank. if this design was tranferred to bonsai bud shears(for example) the scissor control you would gain and the places you could get to in a complex tree, you are struggling at the moment; let alone a spring loaded shear, which has been designed for a different purpose. certainly not precision work as i know it, trees, hair or otherwise. i definately feel theres a place for both types of tools, so please dont just blow one off as a wank. there's more too it than that, much more. no disrespect intended.

Jester wrote:Antonio, as you are in quite a unique position, in terms of steel strength, does the edge on the barber's scissors last a lot longer? Or, to be more precise, if you used bonsai trimmers and barber's scissors for exactly the same tasks, for every 1 time you sharpened the barber's scissors, how often would you have to sharpen the japanese quality bonsai trimmers??
(And let's say for the purpose of this exercise you were constantly trimming fine shoots on a chinese elm)

P.S. Pls don't offer to cut my hair.!!! For those of you who don't understand, changing barbers is a capital offence. !! Once you've chosen , that's it, there's no going back. (Especially with the italian barbers) (Anyone every seen the movie Goodfellas)?? Antonio YOU KNOW what I'm talking about.!!!!!! Nothing worse than getting that phone call saying your loved one "ran into a few problems" 'cause they complained about the haircut, or it was $2 more than they wanted to pay and that they won't be coming home tonight!!!

to try and answer in a nut shell. older barbers scissors made of older steels may be ok with the right angle on the edge. although back then we were always told to cut nothing but hair with them so as to not wear the edge. modern day scissors made of high tempered stainless in order to get the most surgically sharpest edge possible would not last long cutting twigs on trees. again i think it could be about the angle on the edge. at the end of the day i know what a good scissor is and how to use it but i am no blade smith. green shoots dont seem to be a problem, wood does. the finger rest or ergonomic handles are definately a bonus for control and balance. hope this helps.

loyalty to your hairdresser i understand.