VAFisher
Masterpiece
Beagle. His breath isn't much better.
How do you remove your wire?
- Thread starter cheap_walmart_art
- Start date
Beagle. His breath isn't much better.
I'd have thought you'd melt it off with the fire breath.
For what it's worth I just unwired my first tree, my shimpaku for the first time two days ago and I decided to unwind. It has held its shape. It was wired July 20th. It was fairly easy. The hardest part was honestly getting the largest ones started. I used pliers to grab the terminal end and unwrap the first half round and then just did the rest by hand. I felt like it was less stressful than trying to cut lol. Hopefully this is helpful.
Wires_Guy_wires
Imperial Masterpiece
I sometimes throw the entire tree in the fire pit to get my wire back, annealed and all.
For wire that had bitten in, I make cuts. Unwinding it causes too much bark to peel off.
The hardware store had some nice 15 euro blunt cutters that do the job way better than pointed nose cutters.
For wire that had bitten in, I make cuts. Unwinding it causes too much bark to peel off.
The hardware store had some nice 15 euro blunt cutters that do the job way better than pointed nose cutters.
M. Frary
Bonsai Godzilla
Badass dog!
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
Each wired tree will tell you its story.
shinmai
Chumono
It has been my experience that once you've killed the tree, you no longer need to worry about the wire cutting in.
I hear the watering and fertilizing regimens get a lot more forgiving too.
shinmai
Chumono
They're still good for silhouette shows, though.
Mayank
Chumono
We brush our husky's teeth sometimes daily but at least once or twice a week. Maybe I should stop doing that so I can have him breathe my wire off.
parhamr
Omono
The trick I learned for removing bit-in wire without pliers cutting into the bark and without slipping bark off is:
…and then chuck your wire scrap into a 5-Gal bucket for recycling purposes. I fill one in about 2 or 3 years. Scrap copper has been worth around $2 a pound for the past 10 or so years.
You’re buying copper bonsai wire for about $25–35 a pound, so you might as well get a 5–10 percent return.
- Firmly hold the “inner” wire section to the tree, much like how you would hold it in place when applying the wire
- Manually unwind the “outer” section of wire
- Exaggerate the unwinding movement to ensure the wire is in alignment with the inner section you are holding (this is the most important part—if the wire is moving in exactly the right plane then there will be no bark on which to catch!)
- Shift inward to the next loop
- Cut off sections of the unwound wire once it is long enough as to make unwinding difficult (i.e. it hits branches)
- Get both sides of this pinch point loose, either through unwinding or cutting
- Identify the side from which you have access to pull the wire straight through
- Get the other side as straight and closely trimmed as possible
- Apply gentle pressure around the pinch point with your non-dominant hand
- Pull the wire, with pliers in your dominant hand, through the obstruction
…and then chuck your wire scrap into a 5-Gal bucket for recycling purposes. I fill one in about 2 or 3 years. Scrap copper has been worth around $2 a pound for the past 10 or so years.
You’re buying copper bonsai wire for about $25–35 a pound, so you might as well get a 5–10 percent return.
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When I apply my wire, I make a little “fishhook” at the end. This supports the end of the branch, usually at the bud. It’s also easy to grab with Jin pliers when I want to remove the wire. Then, I can just unspin the Jin pliers in my hand. The wire lifts straight out. I usually can unwind all the way back to the anchor point. Then, I find the other end, grab the fishhook, and unspin the other end of the wire back to the anchor point. Then I can remove the whole piece whole.
You make a good point about using the off hand to support the wire and branch one turn back.
Sansui
Shohin
Here is a portable wire straightener device I came up with to straighten heaver gauge, used wire pieces. More details at graciebonsai.com.
Found this while looking for information on a specific tree. Saw an interesting Japanese red pine with some embedded wire in its trunk - for a young, inexpensive pine, is it possible to extricate wire without killing or maiming it?
Brent
Brent
