Reminder of the day.

[Bonsai Nut]

Also... when you bend a branch try to bend it where the wire is on the outside of the bend. As you bend, this will tighten the wire (instead of loosen it) and the wire running along the back of the bend will support the branch and make it less prone to splitting. If you look closely at your breaks, the branch broke where the wire wasn't. Makes sense when you think about it, but it is a small detail easy to miss when first starting out.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Ok now my two cents.
A lot of noobs bend the branch. Your aim is to bend the wire so that it bends the branch. If you try to bend the branch in order to bend the wire you end by snapping the branch or at least cracking it.
Also, doing heavy bends over a period is better. Bend and leave for two day then bend some more and repeat the process until you get it to the position you want. Same goes for guy wires and branches with raffia. The folks doing demos rarely do that because they want to show how awesome their skills are. The truth is they have years of experience and can feel the amount of pressure a branch can take. If you're a noob you don't have that yet. Take time and bend branches bit by bit. You will learn what your tree can take and what it can't.
Today's lesson: You bend branches beyond their capacity.
Will it survive......in a juniper probably. In other trees you wont be so fortunate. Everything is a lesson, remember bonsai wasn't built in a day.

 

[KillerButts]

Ok now my two cents.
A lot of noobs bend the branch. Your aim is to bend the wire so that it bends the branch. If you try to bend the branch in order to bend the wire you end by snapping the branch or at least cracking it.
Also, doing heavy bends over a period is better. Bend and leave for two day then bend some more and repeat the process until you get it to the position you want. Same goes for guy wires and branches with raffia. The folks doing demos rarely do that because they want to show how awesome their skills are. The truth is they have years of experience and can feel the amount of pressure a branch can take. If you're a noob you don't have that yet. Take time and bend branches bit by bit. You will learn what your tree can take and what it can't.
Today's lesson: You bend branches beyond their capacity.
Will it survive......in a juniper probably. In other trees you wont be so fortunate. Everything is a lesson, remember bonsai wasn't built in a day.

Big difference calling someone a newb and a noob. Noobs don't take your advice and learn because they are noobs.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Big difference calling someone a newb and a noob. Noobs don't take your advice and learn because they are noobs.

Oh, I actually didn't know the difference (suddenly I feel old) what I meant was newbs.

 

[BunjaeKorea]

Any tips or anything i should know to give it it's best shot? Or just leave it as is?

You can tightly wrap electrical insulation tape around the break. I use it for smaller branches snd raffia for larger branches.

 

[Adair M]

Ok now my two cents.
A lot of noobs bend the branch. Your aim is to bend the wire so that it bends the branch. If you try to bend the branch in order to bend the wire you end by snapping the branch or at least cracking it.
Also, doing heavy bends over a period is better. Bend and leave for two day then bend some more and repeat the process until you get it to the position you want. Same goes for guy wires and branches with raffia. The folks doing demos rarely do that because they want to show how awesome their skills are. The truth is they have years of experience and can feel the amount of pressure a branch can take. If you're a noob you don't have that yet. Take time and bend branches bit by bit. You will learn what your tree can take and what it can't.
Today's lesson: You bend branches beyond their capacity.
Will it survive......in a juniper probably. In other trees you wont be so fortunate. Everything is a lesson, remember bonsai wasn't built in a day.

I was just about to post the same message. (Not about the noobs or newb’s), but about bending the wire, not the branch.

Here’s a pic of some wiring I did yesterday. As you can see, my wire crossed the branch at more of a 60 degree angle. And, I have found that it’s better to err on the side of using a too large wire rather than a too small wire. When I bend the wire, I want it to stay put. Doubling up a too thin wire is amateurish. And still doesn't hold as well as a single, properly sized wire.

 

[Cable]

Dude, I’ve been doing bonsai for 50 years. This ain’t my first rodeo.

When are you going to get good at it???

Sorry, Adair, I couldn’t resist.

 

[Adair M]

When are you going to get good at it???

Sorry, Adair, I couldn’t resist.

So, since I’m wiring this morning, I thought i’d also show an advanced technique: deliberately crossing wires!

What!?! Aren’t we all taught to never cross wires? Well, yes, we are. And that’s a good basic rule to follow in most cases. Running wires parallel looks neater and doesn’t create hot spots where wire can dig in.

Yet, there are cases where crossing wires is a good technique. Particularly when you need to splice a smaller wire to a larger wire. Let’s say you are wiring a branch with large wire, and the branch gets thin, too thin to continue all the way out with the thick wire. So, find a convenient place to end it with a bit of fish-hook. When bringing the thinner wire along parallel to extend the wire past the end of the thicker wire, about one turn before the thick wire ends, cross over the thick wire. Bring the small wire back around, and continue down the branch. What this does is lock the two wires and branch together as one.

Here’s a picture of where I’ve done it, once in the foreground, and once in the back ground:

 

[Warpig]

Vary good tip to know. Getting some great advise here and just wanted to say thank you, it is not wasted.

 

[Cable]

So, since I’m wiring this morning, I thought i’d also show an advanced technique: deliberately crossing wires!

What!?! Aren’t we all taught to never cross wires? Well, yes, we are. And that’s a good basic rule to follow in most cases. Running wires parallel looks neater and doesn’t create hot spots where wire can dig in.

Yet, there are cases where crossing wires is a good technique. Particularly when you need to splice a smaller wire to a larger wire. Let’s say you are wiring a branch with large wire, and the branch gets thin, too thin to continue all the way out with the thick wire. So, find a convenient place to end it with a bit of fish-hook. When bringing the thinner wire along parallel to extend the wire past the end of the thicker wire, about one turn before the thick wire ends, cross over the thick wire. Bring the small wire back around, and continue down the branch. What this does is lock the two wires and branch together as one.

Here’s a picture of where I’ve done it, once in the foreground, and once in the back ground:

Ryan Neil shows that in one of his wiring videos. Sometimes you have to break a rule to do the right thing. I’ve done it, too, and it can be a solid anchor point when there is none other available.

 

[nrgizerrod]

So, since I’m wiring this morning, I thought i’d also show an advanced technique: deliberately crossing wires!

What!?! Aren’t we all taught to never cross wires? Well, yes, we are. And that’s a good basic rule to follow in most cases. Running wires parallel looks neater and doesn’t create hot spots where wire can dig in.

Yet, there are cases where crossing wires is a good technique. Particularly when you need to splice a smaller wire to a larger wire. Let’s say you are wiring a branch with large wire, and the branch gets thin, too thin to continue all the way out with the thick wire. So, find a convenient place to end it with a bit of fish-hook. When bringing the thinner wire along parallel to extend the wire past the end of the thicker wire, about one turn before the thick wire ends, cross over the thick wire. Bring the small wire back around, and continue down the branch. What this does is lock the two wires and branch together as one.

Here’s a picture of where I’ve done it, once in the foreground, and once in the back ground:

View attachment 260781

This is an awesome tip and really important for us newbies to take to heart. I was wiring up my first shimpy last week and was so focused on not crossing wires that I got pretty frustrated. Thankfully I was with some awesome dudes and was shown this and a couple other techniques, he also helped me understand that crossing wires is perfectly ok (and unavoidable), you just have to be smart about it.

I learned the power of copper wire that day.... all i had was aluminum. I made due with what I had but USPS will be fixing that situation for me this afternoon.

 

[Anthony]

@Warpig ,

practice wiring on cut off of tree branches.
Show Sifu [ Adair ]
Ask his advice on how to correct.

*****Do not practice on a live tree or something you hold dear.****

Good Day
Anthony