New Bonsai Video - Carving a Stone Slab for Bonsai (an entertainment)

BillsBayou

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I've created a video which shows the process I use when carving stone slabs for bonsai. Each slab and stone type requires different techniques to get a decent functional slab. I hope you enjoy the video.

WARNING: The tools I use are deadly in the wrong hands. Therefore, I made this an entertainment video rather than an instructional one. If you look at this and you think "Hey, I can do that!" you're going to die or kill someone. In the least case, you're going to permanently screw up your health.

 

BillsBayou

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That just makes me want to give it a try.
I know that song. "Live And Let Die"- Paul McCartney

Not sure how I could be discouraging without being encouraging. I was hoping lung cancer was going to be enough.

Over on Reddit, it turns out one person was discouraged by the expense. I came up with a ballpark estimate of well over $900 in tools, equipment, and protection.
 

crust

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It's always exasperating to me when u-tubers feel compelled to drone on about how their video is not educational and super dangerous and just for entertainment and that you are to learn nothing and try nothing--good God, everything is educational--everything can and does inspire. As a mason who has cut and worked stone all my life I can tell you are not in super danger doing stuff like this and that, other than goggles, gloves, and a dust mask, the power tools are the only thing really dangerous. My buddies kid is a computer guru who has sat on his butt all his life in office chairs. I was visiting last week and the kid came up for a visit. He was all jacked up and had sciatica and in immense pain and he is only 40. All attributed to sitting around. Very dangerous.
 

BillsBayou

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It's always exasperating to me when u-tubers feel compelled to drone on about how their video is not educational and super dangerous and just for entertainment and that you are to learn nothing and try nothing--good God, everything is educational--everything can and does inspire.
I find it humorous to see a sardonic use of the word "drone" in a run-on sentence. I counted 5 uses of "and" as well as the conjuctions "when" and "how". You droned on about how I droned on. Big thumbs up for humor! Always open with a joke.

As a mason who has cut and worked stone all my life I can tell you are not in super danger doing stuff like this and that, other than goggles, gloves, and a dust mask, the power tools are the only thing really dangerous.
I used three different tools in the video. Your list of "goggles, gloves, and dust mask" isn't enough personal protection equipment for any of these tools.

The moment I say "here is the safety equipment list" or give any specific PPE recommendations it could be argued that I am speaking from a position of authority. It just so happens that I am not an authority on safety equipment. I would be giving safety advice with the full knowledge and understanding that I am not trained to give such advice. That puts me in a bad moral and legal position. Thus, I went out of my way to avoid specific mention of the safety equipment used.

You, on the other hand, have spoken from a position of authority. Your mention that you are a mason and have "cut and worked stone all my life" qualifies your use of the words "and I can tell you". You are a self-proclaimed authority on personal protection equipment needs when "cutting and working" stones. A bold move for someone hiding behind a pseudonym. How about you create a masonry video? In it you can cover topics such as "cutting and working" stone. Then give the same PPE recommendation you gave here. Be sure to use your real name.

When you say "dust mask", I think of a cheap paper mask with two rubber bands that hook behind your ears. If that is all you use, you should mention this to your physician. I am genuinely concerned for your health.

My buddies kid is a computer guru who has sat on his butt all his life in office chairs. I was visiting last week and the kid came up for a visit. He was all jacked up and had sciatica and in immense pain and he is only 40. All attributed to sitting around. Very dangerous.
Not sure if this is sarcasm or a bad joke.
 

crust

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I find it humorous to see a sardonic use of the word "drone" in a run-on sentence. I counted 5 uses of "and" as well as the conjuctions "when" and "how". You droned on about how I droned on. Big thumbs up for humor! Always open with a joke.


I used three different tools in the video. Your list of "goggles, gloves, and dust mask" isn't enough personal protection equipment for any of these tools.

The moment I say "here is the safety equipment list" or give any specific PPE recommendations it could be argued that I am speaking from a position of authority. It just so happens that I am not an authority on safety equipment. I would be giving safety advice with the full knowledge and understanding that I am not trained to give such advice. That puts me in a bad moral and legal position. Thus, I went out of my way to avoid specific mention of the safety equipment used.

You, on the other hand, have spoken from a position of authority. Your mention that you are a mason and have "cut and worked stone all my life" qualifies your use of the words "and I can tell you". You are a self-proclaimed authority on personal protection equipment needs when "cutting and working" stones. A bold move for someone hiding behind a pseudonym. How about you create a masonry video? In it you can cover topics such as "cutting and working" stone. Then give the same PPE recommendation you gave here. Be sure to use your real name.

When you say "dust mask", I think of a cheap paper mask with two rubber bands that hook behind your ears. If that is all you use, you should mention this to your physician. I am genuinely concerned for your health.


Not sure if this is sarcasm or a bad joke.
Actually, the stone work you did was very keen and the video was super and represents a lot of effort on your part. You clearly are being very professional with good results. I would like to apologise to you because I made it sound as if I getting after you--and I guess I was, but shouldn't have. Really, I was completely indulging myself and just droning on about my attitudes about those compelled to provide lots of disclaimers, abdications, and demissions, when doing casual unpaid demonstrations. These excessive warnings, however heartfelt, essentially do nothing to alter your position of liability and are completely unnecessary. U-tube is filled with demos on doing crazy and dangerous things with nothing more than a cursory don't "don't this at home". We all are responsible to use our own brains without prompting.

I do believe that our current cultures stance of safety and risk is a little rabid and misplaced--and I stick to my guns on the fact think that demonstrations like yours are not simply entertainment and really are informative and, without a doubt, will be emulated. And I do cut stone all day with a rated dust mask, goggles (often just safety glasses), usually wearing a t-shirt and often bare-handed. Intelligently running a diamond saw or grinder is no more dangerous than driving a vehicle down the freeway. I spalt stones with leathers on, no big deal--sizzlers down the neck definitely sting. I would never run an evil wire wheel without more Pro on. Anyway, awesome video--great job, thanks for sharing, and sorry I was being disrespectful (a bad habit I tend to do with any authority). Signed with love and butt-slaps, David Crust.
 
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BillsBayou

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... I was completely indulging myself and just droning on about my attitudes ...
I'm getting there with many things. I aspire to be the office curmudgeon.

... rated dust mask ...
THAT is what I had hoped. It's not a paper cup with rubber bands, it actually has a protection rating.

...Intelligently running a diamond saw or grinder...
Is not what I expect of the general YouTube viewing public. Everything I do, I do with caution and care and a great deal of education. While I know how to use that torch, for example, I still use a checklist on setting it up. Too many times it is "monkey see monkey do" on YouTube with a generous dash (read: ignorant) of one-upmanship. If all someone does is look at my video and think they could do the same, bad shit will happen. I'm concerned for their safety, the little morons.

There's this young moron on YouTube who put a microwave oven's magnetron in a tin can on the end of a stick an is showing what it does to different things. He's currently my leading candidate for self-immolation. Of course, he'll be cooked from the inside out, but he'll burn all the same.

People like you, people who have worked with stone and power tools, recognize what I do and see that I'm not revealing every precaution. You could likely do everything you saw me do and not risk yourself or others. I'm betting you could do all of it without purchasing any additional tool, brushes, or PPE. However, I just know someone is going to pull out a steel hammer and use a steel chisel and get a shard of steel in their eyes because they don't know shit about any of this.

Maybe those idiots will watch my videos on harvesting trees from swamps and we'll never hear from them again.

..love and butt-slaps, David Crust.

Back at you!

When Mike Frary pointed out that Crust is your last name and not some random username, I looked you up. You have some great trees and a whimsical approach to some of your designs. I was thinking, "Well, shit. I would have liked to like this guy". Turns out you're not that far off on some of my own opinions.

EDIT: I found the moron with the magnetron:
 
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M. Frary

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I just know someone is going to pull out a steel hammer and use a steel chisel and get a shard of steel in their eyes because they don't know shit about any of this.
Like they say. It's fun until someone puts out an eye. Then it's hilarious.
 

BillsBayou

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Like they say. It's fun until someone puts out an eye. Then it's hilarious.
I thought it was "It's fun until someone puts out an eye. Then it's a sport." But yours works too.

Let's recap:
  • Stone carving
  • Torch use
  • Digging trees out of the swamps
  • Power tools for carving
  • Hiding purchases from my wife
What else can I do to make bonsai a life-threatening hobby?
 

M. Frary

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I thought it was "It's fun until someone puts out an eye. Then it's a sport." But yours works too.

Let's recap:
  • Stone carving
  • Torch use
  • Digging trees out of the swamps
  • Power tools for carving
  • Hiding purchases from my wife
What else can I do to make bonsai a life-threatening hobby?
Set up shop in Chicago's southside.
 

BrianBay9

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I thought it was "It's fun until someone puts out an eye. Then it's a sport." But yours works too.

Let's recap:
  • Stone carving
  • Torch use
  • Digging trees out of the swamps
  • Power tools for carving
  • Hiding purchases from my wife
What else can I do to make bonsai a life-threatening hobby?

Collecting on a cliff? Guess not in your neck of the woods. Collecting in a thunderstorm?

Nice work on the slab.
 

BillsBayou

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Collecting in a thunderstorm?

I've got this one covered.

I like to buff the stones when it is raining so the silica dust gets washed into the soil. The thunderstorm we had this past Sunday was a very high energy storm. The kind of storm where the lightning strikes and holds long enough that you're hearing the thunder while still seeing the strike. That means it was close, too. I was in the greenhouse working when the storm suddenly got violent. Where's the worst place to be in a thunderstorm? Under a tree. Guess where my greenhouse is. Yep. Under my pecan tree.

In 2014, I collected a very large boxwood (see attachment with tree in a 4'x8' trailer). I asked the elderly woman in the nearest house if I could dig it up for bonsai. "Well... that's on parish property. My husband might mind, but he's asleep. Go ahead." I dug the tree in about 15 minutes with a reciprocating saw fitted with a pruning blade. If the old guy had awoken while I was digging, well, that could have been dangerous.

BTW: The tree is alive and thriving. The elderly woman and her sleeping husband are both dead.
 

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M. Frary

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Where's the worst place to be in a thunderstorm
In your living room playing Metallica on your electric guitar! That's where!
Got hit doing just that about 6 or 7 years back. No kidding.
 
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