Coming Clean!

Cadillactaste

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Kinda wanna approve one of these just to talk shit! Lol!View attachment 184731

Bastards!

I feel like I should be installed in a bowling alley, or a golf green....

Keeping the Nut clean!

Ballwashing!

Sorce
That's just plain crazy! We appreciate what you and Greg does...never forget that.
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
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So....I accidentally "spam cleaned" a couple threads yesterday.
You figure "clean" means "fix" but it meant "flush"! WTF!

Apologies to @Fairfield Scott and @Brinley123 .....

I went to drop an apology on the threads bit it seems King Nut is still working on reversing my screwup!

Repost em if you gotta!

Thanks Guys!

Sorce
 

vedecx

Yamadori
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"So....I accidentally "spam cleaned" a couple threads yesterday. "

@sorce went mad with power! What new synergy will come to play with his usual madness?
 

AlainK

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WTF!

Sorce rules OK.

We love the little bastard. This place would be so boooooring without him!

And he's not a little bastard, it's just that English is not my first language so it's hard to say what you mean tongue-in-cheek to you frigging anglos.

Respect to the one that has his nickname painted on GoogleEarth ! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Hare Krishna, Om Shanti.

Where's the bloody rolling paper ?...

Ah ! Here, here, here !

;)
 

Adair M

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WTF!

Sorce rules OK.

We love the little bastard. This place would be so boooooring without him!

And he's not a little bastard, it's just that English is not my first language so it's hard to say what you mean tongue-in-cheek to you frigging anglos.

Respect to the one that has his nickname painted on GoogleEarth ! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Hare Krishna, Om Shanti.

Where's the bloody rolling paper ?...

Ah ! Here, here, here !

;)
Alain, Sorce’s posts don’t make any sense in English either!

Kinda reminds me of that poem that starts off;

“‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and humble in the wabe:”

Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
 

sorce

Nonsense Rascal
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@Adair M I have been feeling like shit for what I said to you in that other thread!

Please accept my apology.

The tiny braces rubberbands and hooks is everything I need to safely make my Box look better, without fear of breaking branches etc....
I know I wasnt clear. Im sorry.

I will do this shit so you can see what I mean.

You KNOW I'll never anti advocate good wiring!

Sorce
 

Adair M

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With careful attention to detail, wiring a boxwood with aluminum is the way to go. Use a little heavier (thicker) gauge wire than you “think” is necessary.

Why? So it will hold. You are right. Boxwood is brittle and stiff. So it takes more effort to move, and it takes a stronger wire to keep it in position. What happens is if the wire is too thin, it won’t hold the new position. Then the artist “overbends” hoping that when he lets go, and the branch returns, by bending it more then he wanted, it will set where he wants it.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. It either snaps, or if it does hold, it’s only temporary, and the branch returns to its original position. Use a strong enough wire so that once bent, it stays put.

On boxwood, another problem is trying to bend mature wood. It usually doesn’t work. It’s just too brittle. The time to wire boxwood is when the little shoots are very young and have not lignified. Then, you can put in all kinds of curves. The wire can come off in 6 weeks because then it’s lignified, and the curves are permanent.

So, in this regard, you treat them like deciduous trees. Wire the young, soft growth. Not the old mature growth. Azalea, olives, same way.
 

TN_Jim

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With careful attention to detail, wiring a boxwood with aluminum is the way to go. Use a little heavier (thicker) gauge wire than you “think” is necessary.

Why? So it will hold. You are right. Boxwood is brittle and stiff. So it takes more effort to move, and it takes a stronger wire to keep it in position. What happens is if the wire is too thin, it won’t hold the new position. Then the artist “overbends” hoping that when he lets go, and the branch returns, by bending it more then he wanted, it will set where he wants it.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work. It either snaps, or if it does hold, it’s only temporary, and the branch returns to its original position. Use a strong enough wire so that once bent, it stays put.

On boxwood, another problem is trying to bend mature wood. It usually doesn’t work. It’s just too brittle. The time to wire boxwood is when the little shoots are very young and have not lignified. Then, you can put in all kinds of curves. The wire can come off in 6 weeks because then it’s lignified, and the curves are permanent.

So, in this regard, you treat them like deciduous trees. Wire the young, soft growth. Not the old mature growth. Azalea, olives, same way.
Thanks Adair. If brittle is the case on mature wood, do you think there is a way to soften the mature boxwood branch pre-bend? As in perhaps wrapping bend site with strip of wet cloth days prior to bend, or do you think this would just create more problems?

I wired a small boxwood this early spring and eventually lost a first branch (not snapped) to exactly what you explained, like the vascular tissue just couldn’t take/repair it.
 

Adair M

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Thanks Adair. If brittle is the case on mature wood, do you think there is a way to soften the mature boxwood branch pre-bend? As in perhaps wrapping bend site with strip of wet cloth days prior to bend, or do you think this would just create more problems?

I wired a small boxwood this early spring and eventually lost a first branch (not snapped) to exactly what you explained, like the vascular tissue just couldn’t take/repair it.
No pretreatment has any significant effect that I know of. If you lost a young branch due to wiring, it was likely you overmanupulated it during either the wiring or bending process. Young shoots are very delicate, and it takes practice to get the “feel” of it.

Practice, practice, practice!
 
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