Shaping a Tall Black Pine: Uncle San Turns Unremarkable Material into Something New

Uncle San's shaping of a tall black pine turns even unremarkable material into something new.

A stump bonsai does not come with a great shape just because you dug it up or bought it online. To grow a black pine stump bonsai with a distinctive shape, you must also shape it by hand, and only then will you get unexpected results.

Black pine, also known as white-bud pine, is an evergreen tree that can reach 30 m in height, with grayish-black bark. It blooms in April, with solitary flowers; the female flowers grow at the tips of new buds and are purple, with many seed scales (carpels) overlapping and arranged in a sphere. When mature, most of the pollen drifts out with the wind. The cones form by the autumn of the following year, and the scales split open to release the seeds, which have thin wings. The umbo of the cone scales bears a short prickle.

Once we understand the characteristics of the black pine, we also notice something else: its branches are rather brittle, so it is not easy to use much force when shaping and bending them. So for a tall black pine, if we want to turn it into a fine stump with a distinctive shape, what should we do? Today let us take a look at the superb skill of a bonsai grower.

For a tall black pine with a relatively large trunk, creating a finely shaped bonsai by shaping the trunk is unrealistic, because black pine wood is rather brittle. We can only shape the branches and foliage. So the method used is: while keeping 3-4 branches, saw the trunk off directly with a saw, then coat the cut end of the trunk with paint to seal in moisture.

Next, shape the remaining small branches. The method is: use thin, soft bare aluminum wire to bind and bend the small branches into shape; then you can choose the bending direction and bending angle according to your own wishes, which allows even ordinary material to be turned into something new.

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