Practicing Big Bend Techniques On Collected Lodgepole

[Traken]

That’s the “Root Slayer” made by Radius. You can find them on Amazon for $50 and it’s a very impressive product. I’ve used it for three collecting seasons now, and have also been digging out some 30 year old rhododendron from my landscape with it, and the blade is still sharp, the teeth on the sides work as a saw for thick roots, and the joint where the plastic meets the metal is incredibly strong, allowing for much more leverage and torque than you can put on any other shovel I’ve ever used. Plus it will be a go to if there is ever a zombie apocalypse. Nothing but good things to say about it and I just bought a second one for a non-bonsai buddy who likes to join me on collecting trips.

I picked up one of the XL versions this year and 100% agree. They're fantastic for collecting. I still use a hand or reciprocating saw for thick roots, but the root slayer does such a good job of chopping through everything else.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

That’s the “Root Slayer” made by Radius. You can find them on Amazon for $50 and it’s a very impressive product. I’ve used it for three collecting seasons now, and have also been digging out some 30 year old rhododendron from my landscape with it, and the blade is still sharp, the teeth on the sides work as a saw for thick roots, and the joint where the plastic meets the metal is incredibly strong, allowing for much more leverage and torque than you can put on any other shovel I’ve ever used. Plus it will be a go to if there is ever a zombie apocalypse. Nothing but good things to say about it and I just bought a second one for a non-bonsai buddy who likes to join me on collecting trips.

I’ve had one for a few years now and I swear by it. Still going strong too, thing is built tough.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

I picked up one of the XL versions this year and 100% agree. They're fantastic for collecting. I still use a hand or reciprocating saw for thick roots, but the root slayer does such a good job of chopping through everything else.

Wait... there’s an XL version... uh oh

 

[Traken]

Wait... there’s an XL version... uh oh

Yeah, it has a longer handle. I'm obnoxiously tall, so the longer handle makes it much easier to use, plus the bonus leverage doesn't hurt, either.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Yeah, it has a longer handle. I'm obnoxiously tall, so the longer handle makes it much easier to use, plus the bonus leverage doesn't hurt, either.

Oh nice. I’m on the taller side, I often complain about how all brooms are made too short and how shower heads are often placed with shorter people in mind. . Will look into it. And more leverage sounds like a big plus.

 

[Traken]

Oh nice. I’m on the taller side, I often complain about how all brooms are made too short and how shower heads are often placed with shorter people in mind. . Will look into it. And more leverage sounds like a big plus.

Yeah, I feel your pain. I suspect you'd like this one, then. And it's only 2 dollars more than the normal model on Amazon:

Robot Check

 

[KillerButts]

Getting before spring. Nice one

 

[Josh88]

I set out a primary structure on this guy and did a little cleaning of the bottoms of the pads. I only removed two very small and weak branches and tried to work with everything that is there. As it ramifies and backbuds more things will be reduced and removed, but it feels like a fair start to me. As always your input and opinions are very welcomed.

 

[BonsaiDawg]

Nice job Josh, good looking tree. Question: why did you use raffia for this work, was it necessary?

 

[Josh88]

Nice job Josh, good looking tree. Question: why did you use raffia for this work, was it necessary?

The big bend was close to folding the trunk in half. The only way to know if it was absolutely necessary would be if you didn’t use it and it snapped. Then you’d know it was necessary For the severity of the bend I think it was the right move. Either way it was good practice and at least gave me more confidence that the tree was well protected.

 

[0soyoung]

Ever just test-flex a branch/trunk to assess how necessary raffia (or other wrappings) will be?

 

[Josh88]

Ever just test-flex a branch/trunk to assess how necessary raffia (or other wrappings) will be?

These lodgepole have a lot of flex to them and I tested this one a fair bit to get a sense of where the tree was willing to bend like this and what kind of rotation I needed to have the needles landing face up. My hope was to put the bend a few inches lower in the trunk but this is where the tree seemed willing to let it happen. Even though the tree is fairly thin it’s not young and wasn’t as pliable as I expected.