Wazakura Bonsai Tools

[Paradox]

Just a notice, the japanese have a very complicated relationship with left-handed people (hidari-kiki or giccho) until very recent times. They actually think it is unpolite to use your left hand and they used to heavily correct children to use only their right hand. It's just in the last two decades or so that being left handed is not as bad as it used to be.

Im not Japanese, but my mother noticed when I was very young that I was leaning toward being left hand dominant.

Knowing the world was mostly right handed, and pretty much everything is made for right handed people, she subtly started to hand me things on my right side to get me to use that hand more. When a bit older, she bought me a left hand glove to play soft ball so I used the right hand to throw.

I don't remember any of this or being "heavily corrected" as she was very careful about it.

It worked as I am right handed now.

 

[leus]

It worked as I am right handed now.

Of course it worked, my wife was also "corrected" this way when she was a kid. She writes rigth handed but she uses her left hand for pretty much everything else.

But her penmanship is horrific

 

[Maiden69]

Just a notice, the japanese have a very complicated relationship with left-handed people (hidari-kiki or giccho) until very recent times. They actually think it is unpolite to use your left hand and they used to heavily correct children to use only their right hand. It's just in the last two decades or so that being left handed is not as bad as it used to be.

This is common in many countries. My mom is right-handed, not by choice. She started writing left handed and was beaten with a ruler continuously in grade school every time the teacher saw her.

I fire a rifle right-handed, but fire a pistol with either hand.

LOL, I am the opposite, left hand rifle, right hand pistol. Gave me an advantage when doing urban warfare training not having to let go of the pistol grip of the M4 while switching to pistol.

 

[leus]

This is common in many countries. My mom is right-handed, not by choice. She started writing left handed and was beaten with a ruler continuously in grade school every time the teacher saw her.


LOL, I am the opposite, left hand rifle, right hand pistol. Gave me an advantage when doing urban warfare training not having to let go of the pistol grip of the M4 while switching to pistol.

I'm right handed but I snowboard goofy. And carry heavy bags with my left hand, but I've heard that's not uncommon.

 

[Paradox]

I'm right handed but I snowboard goofy. And carry heavy bags with my left hand, but I've heard that's not uncommon.

Since I was supposed to be left handed, my left eye is more dominant than my right.
I tend to focus on something with the left first. So it makes aiming/shooting right handed interesting. Have to consciously switch to the right eye.

 

[Maiden69]

Since I was supposed to be left handed, my left eye is more dominant than my right.
I tend to focus on something with the left first. So it makes aiming/shooting right handed interesting. Have to consciously switch to the right eye.

This is why I shoot rifle with my left, somehow I could focus better with the left and it felt more natural... I also play pool with my left hand.

I can see see where in some specific situation having a left hand shear will make sense, but never thought that it would make a difference in bonsai. I have left hand metal shears, but they are for specific cuts/turns in metal cutting.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

This is why I shoot rifle with my left

...and you end up with all that brass in your face

 

[Maiden69]

...and you end up with all that brass in your face

That was what they said... they even gave me a brass deflector. Never used it, I did see a few left handers with brass marks in their cheeks but I never got hit with them. Must be the way I set up? M14, M16, M4, M249... never got hit once. I did get a few brass hits in my right shoulder from shooting standing up at a KDR competition.

 

[gjones_42]

Thank you @Bonsai Nut for posting this! Been trying to figure out where to start tool wise, and this manufacturer seems good middle ground between cheapo crap and crazy expensive pro-grade.

Can anyone give input on which scissors would be good for getting started? Because of course there are a dozen options! I've narrowed it down to between Satsuki, Ashinaga, and Twig scissors for doing detail work deeper in the tree, but can't tell differences beyond that.

In case it makes a difference, my scope of bonsai work will be maintaining an existing Shimpaku Juniper and then tinkering with some native pine/oak/maple stock from the surrounding woods to learn techniques and practice. I'll be picking up concave and knob cutters as well as the scissors.

 

[Coppersdad]

Just a notice, the japanese have a very complicated relationship with left-handed people (hidari-kiki or giccho) until very recent times. They actually think it is unpolite to use your left hand and they used to heavily correct children to use only their right hand. It's just in the last two decades or so that being left handed is not as bad as it used to be.

To comment on your post and the several that followed...
I was very careful to learn to use chopsticks with my right hand prior to our trip to Japan. True or not, I'd been warned some older Japanese people might be offended if I used my left hand at table with them.
My personal experience as a child of being "corrected" into using my right hand was that is caused me to stutter. This affliction lasted several years until a wise pediatrician convinced my mother she might be causing the stutter by trying to make my life "easier".

Finally, many of us lefty persons end up a little screwy after years of trying to adapt to a right handed world. I throw and write with my left hand and bat and golf as a right hander. I shoot bow and long guns as a right hander but can pistol shoot with either hand. (I choose my right hand because semi-autos will kick the brass in my face if I use my left) Oh, when I planned the house we built, I had to have someone go through the plans and correct the swing of every single door in the house!
Sigh... Such is life.

 

[Shima]

I do many things with different hands. I write left-handed, but use bonsai tools with my right. I throw a baseball and bat left-handed, but golf and play tennis and racketball with my right. I fire a rifle right-handed, but fire a pistol with either hand. In the Army, the idea that I could target shoot a pistol with one hand while at the same time signing my name with my other hand used to blow peoples' minds

Me too. I throw a ball with my right hand but write with my left but can also write with my right slowly. Kitchen knife with right but fine delicate work with my left. (dental lab) and can paint with both. Interesting fact: 25% of astronauts are lefties. Way above the average. We know what that means...don't we? (Looking down our nose)

 

[Shogun610]

I'm right handed but I snowboard goofy. And carry heavy bags with my left hand, but I've heard that's not uncommon.

I’m ambidextrous , I can write with both , throw with both , and I batted lefty and righty playing baseball. I snowboard righty though. I drive w left or right hand.

 

[jszg]

Just bought a concave cutter and trunk splitter from Wazakura. (discount code: APPLE) Only a bit more expensive than Tian tools, but sounds like Wazakura has a much better finish.

( My sister was left handed, so when I was really little I also tried to do things left-handed. Didn't really work. Some say using the non-dominant hand is good for the lil' neurons, but got mixed results on that front, too. )

 

[Coppersdad]

Just bought a concave cutter and trunk splitter from Wazakura. (discount code: APPLE) Only a bit more expensive than Tian tools, but sounds like Wazakura has a much better finish.

( My sister was left handed, so when I was really little I also tried to do things left-handed. Didn't really work. Some say using the non-dominant hand is good for the lil' neurons, but got mixed results on that front, too. )

I showed someone my Wazakura jin pliers and wire cutters and he commented that the finish was rough and the handles were not polished. Bluntly, I love them this way. The slightly rough finish helps me hang on to them and is not a negative factor at all. IMHO, many of us are too accustomed to slick, shiny, factory made tools. Some of the very best woodworking tools I've ever owned were handmade and still had the tool marks to prove it!
I placed another order yester day for a gift.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

he commented that the finish was rough and the handles were not polished. Bluntly, I love them this way.

I also like the rough finish.

 

[jszg]

Tools came in the mail this morning. Big fan already, concave cutter is sharp and precise.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Quick update - Wazakura just contacted me and let me know that they now offer free shipping on all orders to Canada

 

[BonsaiRae]

Gonna give this a try...
I ordered some tools from Wazakura and they got delivered to a whole different state. I have been trying to get a response from the company for two days about it. Has anyone else had issues or have better contact info than what is on their site because I get no reply.

 

[Coppersdad]

Gonna give this a try...
I ordered some tools from Wazakura and they got delivered to a whole different state. I have been trying to get a response from the company for two days about it. Has anyone else had issues or have better contact info than what is on their site because I get no reply.

All my emails to info@wazakura.com or https://wazakurajapan.com/pages/contact concerning my "left handed scissors issue" have been answered promptly. Sorry for yourproblem.
I hope you'll get it resolved soon.

 

[BonsaiRae]

All my emails to info@wazakura.com or https://wazakurajapan.com/pages/contact concerning my "left handed scissors issue" have been answered promptly. Sorry for yourproblem.
I hope you'll get it resolved soon.

After 2 days they finally responded. They had taken some extra time off for the holidays. I hadn't even thought of that as a possibility. They are looking into the issue and are sending me a replacement order. I can hardly wait to get my first real bonsai tools.