Reopening callous timing

[Deleted member 24479]

Got a few trident chops I need to finish carving. On the first chop, the callous has stopped rolling over. The second one I haven't worked yet. Should I go ahead and reopen them both now, or wait until spring after the first flush has hardened, to speed healing?

Also, should I remove the dead wood down to live wood inside the wound, or will the callous roll over dead wood? Apologies for my ignorance

 

[sorce]

I'd do it the same time the perfectly closed one was done on that other maple.

Sorce

 

[leatherback]

I prefer to do this work when the plant is actively growing, early spring. Dead, dried-out broken wood is not a good surface for the bark to start growing over. I carve back to smooth solid wood, not always to sap-carrying 'live' wood.

Note: For development of the nebari it is better to keep the roots well-covered. As they are now, they will never create side-roots.

 

[ABCarve]

Got a few trident chops I need to finish carving. On the first chop, the callous has stopped rolling over. The second one I haven't worked yet. Should I go ahead and reopen them both now, or wait until spring after the first flush has hardened, to speed healing?

Also, should I remove the dead wood down to live wood inside the wound, or will the callous roll over dead wood? Apologies for my ignorance

i think you should have finished carving when you made the chops. All of the healing that has taken place will be removed when you “finish the carving”. You should remove the excess deadwood so there’s a smooth transition to the form of the trunk, so when it heals it will be one continuous, curvaceous trunk line.

 

[dbonsaiw]

i think you should have finished carving when you made the chops. All of the healing that has taken place will be removed when you “finish the carving”.

Could you elaborate on the process? Specifically, What is the "carving" being referred to separate and apart from the chop?

 

[ABCarve]

Removing the excess wood for a smooth transition to the form of the trunk. Weather removing it with concave or knob cutters or simple carving tools it needs to be removed so the healing from the very beginning of the chop and not a few growing seasons after. I can't see the lowest wound from the side but it kinda looks like it could have better taper.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Removing the excess wood for a smooth transition to the form of the trunk.

Does this simply involve changing the angle of the initial flat cut to remove this "ledge"? Attached is a practice cut made to my trident. I don't know what I want to do with this tree, but I know it won't be this tall so I figured I would experiment with some cuts and addressing wounds. Does this require additional carving? How do I get the flat cut to look more rounded? Could the area on the sides of the cut be cut down to make the wound concave or does healing of the wound roll over to create this concave movement? I assume the latter.

 

[ABCarve]

This is a maple I’m currently working on. These wounds have two growing season on them. First year the chops were done I waited to see where buds/branches would emerge. Once they were established I decided which ones to keep and carved the square cuts to taper to the new growth. The surface is carved hollow so they fill in to a smooth transition.

Full Moon Maple Development

This is a full moon maple that was purchased at a Rochester nursery and put in the ground and had four growing seasons. I really wanted it for a yard tree but the deer and poor soil it was in had different ideas. So this spring I decided I would enjoy it more in a pot. Shovel and a cordless...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Katie0317]

I watched a video of someone removing the edge of a callous using a very sharp small knife, The wood was not completely dead but he did it perfectly without disturbing anything but the callous. He did it in quarter inch pieces and he clearly had done it before because it didn't take him long. I kept watching because I thought the knife would slip but it took it off perfectly. I don't know about removing dead wood but yours didn't heal too badly. Pretty little tree.

 

[dbonsaiw]

The surface is carved hollow so they fill in to a smooth transition.

Looking at the attached pic that you sent, was this made as an angled cut and the wound is now rolling over? I can't tell if that is the case or whether the cut was made and then the sides of the cut (where it it is healing) was rounded.

 

[ABCarve]

Looking at the attached pic that you sent, was this made as an angled cut and the wound is now rolling over? I can't tell if that is the case or whether the cut was made and then the sides of the cut (where it it is healing) was rounded.

It was an angled cut, then hollowed and rolling over.

 

[dbonsaiw]

Many thanks. This was super helpful.