by Midge Goeth

Ever wonder what a KUMADE is used for?

When I first began getting involved in creating my own bonsai, it became apparent to me that I needed some special tools. Other than what was already in my garden tool kit, there was a need for some unusual items necessary to create a bonsai. It also became apparent that some of the "special tools" were quite pricey. Many of them not only looked different from what I could find at Home Depot or Otte's Garden Centers, they had specific uses.

I can remember going to a workshop and demo conducted by Jack Wikle. This was the first one I had attended and I was very excited about knowing I would come home with two specimen trees. I took a cotoneaster and Alberta spruce to work on. My tool kit at that time contained two pairs of pruners and a small pair of wire cutters. As I looked around the room and watched some of the participants open up their tool boxes with 20 or 30 various tools and "things" in them, I began to wonder if I could create that wonderful specimen tree with my pitiful tools. With the help of some generous participants and borrowed tools, I felt good about my creations. Even though the Alberta spruce looked like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree when I took it home, several years later it was quite nice.

Over the next several years I began to acquire a tool or two, but must tell you now that I still do not have an impressive bonsai tool box. While searching the internet, I came across an article about suggested tools needed to help with the potting, care and pruning of bonsai. Now, I know there are members in GLBS that probably have everything on that list and more. However, I was having a hard time looking at that list of 39 items and not thinking there must be a selected few tools that can also get the job done.

I'm not going to print the entire list, but just a few of the 39 items include:

• Pointed nose shears
• Pointed nose shears with slip-through looped handle
• Small trimmer with slim handle and finger control
• Large and small KUIKIRI trimmer
• Large and small folding saws
• Double jointed wire cutter and 4 other kinds of wire cutters
• Pointed nose pliers
• Pointed nose pliers with beak completely touching
• Carving tools
• JIN maker pliers
• Hand hook
• Screens and sieves
• Tweezers
• Kumade

At one of our meetings sometime, I would like to get opinions from the membership on which tools you find most useful. I feel everyone has a few favorites, but according to the size, shape and type of plants you work on, you probably use different tools.

I did find this minimalist set of tools to help you get started.

1. Start your kit with a small, sharp spade; a five-gallon plastic bucket; and a water jug that will hold at least a couple quarts of water if you plan to gather bonsai stock from the wild.
2. Pick up a pair of small, sharp and easily handled trimming shears for the most basic of your shaping and defoliating. These should be almost scissors-sized for ease of handling. The type with ratcheting jaws will add cutting strength while keeping the size to a minimum.
3. Thin and separate roots with a root hook. This is a sharp-bladed tool that has a blade placed at a near-90- degree angle to the handle so that it can be easily pulled through a tangled root ball. An inexpensive pocketknife with a fairly long blade can be used as a handy substitute.
4. Cut wire for branch shaping with a high-quality pair of wire cutters.
5. Trim leaves with a specialized pair of leaf cutters or make do nearly as well with a small pair of scissors from a sewing kit.
6. Use a set of inexpensive chopsticks to tamp dirt into the root bed as you pot the tree. If you don't have chopsticks, a couple wooden pencils will do the job just fine.
7. Get at delicate work with a pair of inexpensive tweezers. A long-handled pair will serve even better and in more situations.
8. Pack dirt or position ground cover with a small, flat spatula. An old butter knife makes a perfect improvised tool.
9. Put a common dinner fork to work as a rake for your tiny landscapes.
10. Shape and arrange branches using bare copper wire to hold them in place. Copper is easy to bend but holds its shape, comes in many sizes that will match the strength of the limbs you use it on, and weathers nicely against the branches.
11. Order a real bonsai tool kit from a garden center or, in larger metropolitan areas, from a bonsai supplier. There are also several internet-based bonsai clubs where you can order tools that are bonsai-specific.

And, in case you didn't know, a KUMADE is a bear-claw shaped scratcher with a spatula for removing soil from roots and pressing after transplanting.