Basic tools Guide
Starting out in bonsai will mean you only need a few tools in the beginning.
- Scissors
- Wire Cutters
- Tweezers
You will need scissors for trimming, wire cutters for shaping and tweezers for maintenance.
There are a lot of different specialty tools in bonsai that achieve different jobs but for the general care and maintenance of bonsai we wont need a whole lot of bonsai tools to start off with.
For this article I will assume you currently only have very small trees so we will look at the tools needed to look after them. This article will also be helpful if you are looking for a gift to buy a bonsai enthusiast to help get them started.
So if you find yourself asking, What Tools Do You Need For Bonsai? Then keep reading.
Basic Bonsai Tools
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Bonsai Scissors
When you are first starting out bonsai scissors will be an essential tool to help you prune your foliage, I recommend starting off with the 200mm Bonsai Scissors. The scissors are a medium size and a medium width so they fall in the middle of all the other types of bonsai scissors. You can get all different types including bud shears, root scissors and de-candling scissors. As mentioned though all those other scissors do different jobs and wont be needed straight away, just a general size set of scissors will do.
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Bonsai Wire Cutters
Bonsai wire cutters are a tool that is specially made for working with bonsai, sure you could get a set of side cutters out of your tool box but you will find out pretty quickly when it comes to removing the wire from your tree side cutters are big and clunky and are a hassle to work with. Bonsai wire cutters generally are design to make the job easier, have more slender shafts to get between branching and are designed to prevent doing damage to the tree. When starting out you don’t need a professional wire cutter, Just a set of beginners wire cutters will suffice as you likely wont be cutting large size wire. As you progress through bonsai you can slowly add tools as you need them.
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Bonsai Tweezers
These guys are handy for removing weeds from your bonsai pot roots and all. Trust me if you own a bonsai you are going to get weeds growing in the pot and they can be a hassle to remove with your fingers tips, most of the time if you try to remove them with your fingers you just break them off at the surface level. This leaves a living root system still in the pot and the weed will be back again a few days later. Bonsai tweezers can get right to the base of the weed and pull it out with all its root meaning you have fully extracted the problem from the pot. Bonsai tweezers will also come in handy later on in your bonsai journey if you need to do some needle plucking on a pine or even if you need to remove interior growth that has dried up on your juniper and you don’t want to stick your hands in the foliage and get stabbed, Send the tweezers in to remove those dry needles instead.
Really for now they are the very basic tools you will need. Along with them you can get some smaller size aluminium bonsai wire.
There is also the option of buying a bonsai tool kit as well, usually they have a few extra tools in them but they are usually a little cheaper in the long run as the extra tools that they come with although not essential you will eventually need them and you will benefit from tool kit pricing.
When it comes to quality if you know bonsai is something you really want to keep going with I would suggest buying the best quality you can afford. Here at Bonsai-En we don’t actually sell any tools or tool kits that are cheap ( cheap meaning made in china and will break ). We stock Japanese made tools made from high quality steels so that those who buy our tools or tool kits wont have to replace the tools they buy in the beginning, they will just have to add more to their kit as they proceed. Most beginners will buy 2 or 3 sets of scissors before they decide to buy a good set in the end, if you do the maths it would have been cheaper to just buy the good pair to begin with. So just be cautious of overly cheap tools and tool kits.
I hope this has helped you make a decision on what tools you need to start bonsai and it has given you a clearer picture on what you need to purchase.
Until Next Time, Enjoy Your Bonsai Journey.
