Yew carving and development.

[Underdog]

I dug this 2 yrs ago out of my landscape to make room for my new benches. And hope I'm not putting it in harms way. It seems the few projects I've posted here often die afterwards. Superstitious I guess...

First question is about the leaves/needles. They all have brown tips since last season. I think because it was holding too much water in this heavy soil mix but would welcome any thoughts. I plan to put it in a box this season with a dryer mix.Every needle except some late season growth looks like this. But less blurry... LOL or how it looks w/out my glasses...


The other question is in regards to carving deadwood into a believable trunk. Hard freeking wood for sure. I may have to buy a bigger die grinder or listen to my annoying air powered one.
I cut back and peeled a lot but now it looks like a Punji Stick trap. Some of these have to go and become hollows in my mind. I'd love to hear suggestions about which and how. I know it's hard to do from 2d pics. Especially my crappy phone pics but... @BobbyLane if you would offer up some advice? I have admired your work for years and would value any input from you. Any others as well. I'm all ears.



Thanks to any and all who take the time to respond.
Mark

 

[Dav4]

You will definitely need a die grinder for that one to remove the bulk of wood and a dremel would be nice for detail work. These are 2 yews I've worked on in the past and I've done a fair amount of high speed and hand carving on both of them.

Mavis, my yew

This is a yew, Taxus cuspidata (I think), that I collected from my In-laws front yard outside Rochester, NY 4 years ago. I named it "Mavis", in honor of my Mother in law. Here is a pictureof the tree right after collection.

www.bonsainut.com

One more landscape yew

Well, sort of;) . This is a tree I picked up on a landscape nursery crawl 5-6 years ago. It was basically a bush, 2' by 2', planted in a 10 gal can. I didn't really have a solid plan for it, so I started reducing the foliage and the rootball to make it more compact. Then, one thing or...

www.bonsainut.com

Fwiw, I'd be tempted to get yours a bit healthier before really going at it... collected yews can take more then a few years to bounce back.. I wouldn't carve or prune drastically until it's recovered and the pot it's in is full of roots.

 

[leatherback]

Nice lump of wood

 

[Underdog]

Thanks Dave. I'll enjoy reading your threads.
>>>> recovered and the pot it's in is full of roots.
I fear the pot it's in is causing some of the trouble. It stays too wet. Oil dry and potting mix with some original yard soil which is heavy clay here.
Maybe I should step away from the carving a while. Winter blues getting to my itchy fingers.
I have Dremels and such. Looking at a more powerful electric die grinder or suffer and listen to my air one.
Looking at some router bits.

 

[leatherback]

get nibblers, and forget about grinders an routers.

Shop – Bonsai4Me

bonsai4me.com

 

[leatherback]

 

[Underdog]

80 bucks each??? Oh my...
But they sure look like they eat up the wood. Dang...
Saw what G Potter uses too but... $$$

 

[leatherback]

80 bucks each??? Oh my...
But they sure look like the eat up the wood. Dang...

56 for the dremel version

 

[Underdog]

@Dav4 >>>> I use a 100% inorganic mix and they do fine, even here in GA. This one is absolutely exploding with new growth this spring.
>>>>From one of your threads.
Mine is in DE and potting mix@50/50 It just seemed to be wet all the time according to my chopstick. I often skipped watering it because it didn't dry out. It was in about 50/60% daytime sun. Maybe just needs moved out to more sun? Its been kept about 8 ft from where it was dug and that is in more sun than before.
Do the needle tips shown look like too much water? How wet do they like it? I was going to go more Lava/pumice to try and dry it out and build a wood box. Thoughts?
Thanks , Mark

 

[Dav4]

@Dav4 >>>> I use a 100% inorganic mix and they do fine, even here in GA. This one is absolutely exploding with new growth this spring.
>>>>From one of your threads.
Mine is in DE and potting mix@50/50 It just seemed to be wet all the time according to my chopstick. I often skipped watering it because it didn't dry out. It was in about 50/60% daytime sun. Maybe just needs moved out to more sun? Its been kept about 8 ft from where it was dug and that is in more sun than before.
Do the needle tips shown look like too much water? How wet do they like it? I was going to go more Lava/pumice to try and dry it out and build a wood box. Thoughts?
Thanks , Mark

So, up until recently, I had mine in turface, lava and pumice, without issue (Boons mix now ) . I've always considered them as a tree that liked moisture, though they're also considered relatively drought tolerant in the landscape. The needles definitely show what I'd consider root stress, though it also reminds me of sunburn. At the least, I'd lose the potting soil and add some lava and pumice if you can source it. As far as cutters go, I've longed to have the nibblers but the cost is a bit high. You can't go wrong with https://kutzall.com/collections/burrs for both die grinders and dremel cutting tools imo.

 

[Underdog]

The needles definitely show what I'd consider root stress, though it also reminds me of sunburn. At the least, I'd lose the potting soil and add some lava and pumice if you can source it.

Thanks again Dave. I got pretty good roots when dug but it just seems always wet. Can't see it being too much sun where it's sitting. Maybe not enough...

I have lava and got my first pumice from Dallas Bonsai going out of biz sale. Sorry to see them go. 75% off

Storewide Going Out of Business Sale - 75% OFF EVERYTHING NO LIMITATIONS

This is your last chance to grab ANY of these items.

www.dallasbonsai.com

Had to order more when I copied that link to post

 

[Carol 83]

Dallas Bonsai going out of biz sale. Sorry to see them go. 75% off

Thanks for reminding me, I just placed an order.

 

[Underdog]

Fwiw, I'd be tempted to get yours a bit healthier before really going at it... collected yews can take more then a few years to bounce back.. I wouldn't carve or prune drastically until it's recovered and the pot it's in is full of roots.

I had to do just a little bit of carving to scratch the itch and get a feel for how my current tools will do. I plan on repotting this spring into a better mix and know I won't want to do anything else to it for a year or more. I'll be building a new box for it to live in for several years(hopefully live). I do want to get some lime sulfur on the dead wood. Another first for me. Not pruning anything but maybe a tiny bit of wire to direct a couple flimsy branches, one growing straight downward.

Still trying to find the live veines on the left side. Just going to wait on that for a while so maybe it showes itself better. The scars are from me repeatedly hitting it with the lawn mower for the last 30yrs

Hopefully the curse of posting my projects won't continue. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Dav4]

Good start... I always do some carving then let it age for a while, study it, then come back at a later date to refine as needed. As far as live veins on yews are concerned, it's very similar to that in junipers. You should be able to lift away the older, flaky bark to find the bright maroon colored new bark (looks like you've done that here). If you're not sure, use the tip of a sharp knife or similar tool to probe the area in question... dead wood covered by bark will be hard and the knife tip won't sink in far, where as living cambium is softer and the knife will sink in deeper. Also, established live veins on yews muscle up quickly in my experience and will be easily identified when compared to deadwood.

 

[Underdog]

After getting this one out of the heavy soggy soil I put it in a basket with a better draining mix. Raised it up which means even more carving opportunities (or liabilities) It's in Florida with me now for a jumpstart/setback?

 

[Arlithrien]

Coming along nicely. On a side note, I recognize those double stacked Lowe's pond baskets anywhere.

 

[AlainK]

Looks good.

Very good.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I like what you have done, I'd let it recover now for a while.
Really nice.

 

[sorce]

setback

Depends when you're coming Back!

I think you can go at this carving thing so slow, that you'll have time to sharpen your chisels in between little sessions.

I'd go it by hand, just a little at a time.
Maybe leave a rusty set a pliers close, and a edge of some sort.

Small work and long time should never end up looking contrived, where if you go ham with a grinder in an hour, you may have had a yew.....!

So how long you staying?

Sorce

 

[leatherback]

Raised it up which means even more carving opportunities (or liabilities) It's in Florida with me now for a jumpstart

Yew are going places there!