A Black Pine Restyling
By Laurence LeClaire
Introduction
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In June 2007, I purchased a Japanese Black Pine from Ruben Guzman’s garden (a longtime Danville, CA bonsai artist)
in preparation for a Marco Invernizzi workshop the following November. It was my first “more serious” purchase of a
black pine. The tree was 25 years old with great bark and decent ramification. - great material to practice wiring and
have a nice tree with a few years’ work.
Marco worked with me an entire day wiring out the branches and twigs and helping bend some fairly thick branches
using heavy wire and raffia. Since then, I’ve been slowly removing wire and performing the standard candle
cutting/bud selection on the branches every year. But as my bonsai education grew over time since the tree’s first
styling, I came to the realization that the tree had a limited future. By that, I mean the trunk lacked any interesting
movement except a single bend near the base. Even with extensive wiring of all the branches, I felt the tree would
always be upright and Christmas tree-like. I was losing interest in the tree and considered selling it.
That’s until I picked up an issue of Bonsai Focus magazine where an article documented the restyle of a large pine tree.
The article described how to introduce bends in large diameter branches & trunks by drilling out the interior
hardwood of the branch/trunk and then bending with rebar. Better yet, the tree in the article had an uncanny
similarity to mine! I was so excited about my new project I couldn’t sleep that night.
So, at our February gathering of my San Francisco bonsai study group, I took the challenge. Enjoy the photos from the
day’s work and the final result!
Step 1 - The Plan
• First, I made a
drawing of the final
design.
• We decided a single
bend across from the
first branch would be
the only ‘drilled’
bend.
• The rest could be
made with heavy wire
and raffia.
• A new apex would be
made from the 4th
major branch.
Step 2 - The Drill.
• An incision was made just
above the first branch.
• A hole was drilled into the
incision and the center
heartwood was removed by
pivoting the drill sideways
several times.
• Care was made not to
remove too much xylem and
not to harm the cambium.
Step 3 - The Bend.
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A length of rebar was inserted in front of the
bend.
The bottom is anchored into the soil against
the rim of the pot. A block of wood is butted
between the trunk and rebar.
A piece of rubber is inserted between the
wood block and bark for protection.
A length of copper wire was used to pull the
top of the trunk towards the rebar making the
trunk bend at the drilled region.
Note the top 1/3 of the tree has been removed
at this point. After the bend, the two edges of
cambium were aligned perfectly.
A nearly 45 degree bend was introduced in
the line of the trunk.
Step 4 - Raffia and Wire
• Next, I applied layers of
raffia to the trunk around the
branches to be bend
downward and to the 4th
branch that would serve as
the new apex.
• #4 copper wire was then
wrapped around each branch
and anchored properly to
support the major bends
about to be applied.
Step 5 - After the Bends.
• All the major bends
have been applied.
• Time to thin the needles
and wire out each
branch to its final
position.
Step 6 – Further Styling.
• After lots of wiring and needle
plucking, the final design of tree is
realized.
• The top of the tree appears much
weaker than the lower, most likely
due to the spreading of the
branches to fill in the new top.
• In two years, the raffia and rebar
can be removed and the redesign
should hold.
• The photo above does not reflect
the depth in the new arrangement
of the tree and the new layers of
needles are not evident.
Step 7 – After a year and half of growth and a
repot
Tree is stronger than ever even after radical styling from the year before. A
leader candle was allowed to extend without cutting the year before to help pull
energy through the main part of the tree to aid with healing the bends
Conclusion
Before
After