What are the most expensive bonsai scissors?

The Most Expensive Bonsai Scissors In The World

Bonsai scissors can vary in range when it comes to pricing, obviously with that range of pricing comes a scale of quality, The cheaper the scissors usually the cheaper the manufacturing process which creates flaws and also they tend to use cheaper steel, A lot of the white label Chinese bonsai tools ( white label meaning a brand stamps their logo on mass produced products ) use cheaper alloy steels which don't sharpen well and the tips tend to break off them very easy. The Japanese tools on the other hand tend to use actual carbon steels which have all the property's you want in a good set of bonsai tools from edge retention, to sharpness, hand made quality and hardness. But how far does this scale of cost and quality slide? Up to $32,000... Yes that's right $32,000. Lets take a look at these scissors that cost more then most cars.

Where are the most expensive bonsai scissors made? 

There is a city in Japan called Sakai that has a legacy of black smithing that was made famous for sword making. These days you can mostly find craftsman there still making kitchen knives. Japan has a reputation for making some of the best edged weapons and tools in the world, this is mainly due to them using Japanese Carbon steels rather then Stainless Steel which has its down falls when it comes to edges. It is believed that the Japanese have been making edged weapons in this city for over 2000 years. You can see why they have the reputation for having the highest skill in creating tools with an edge.

Who Makes The Most Expensive Bonsai Scissors?

Pictured : Yasuhiro Hirakawa With His Bonsai Scissors

Photo Of Yasuhiro Hirakawa By Shigeta Kobayashi

The man who has made the most expensive bonsai scissors in the world is Yasuhiro Hirakawa who is a master blacksmith that trades under the name Sasuke. Sasuke is a fifth generation blacksmith shop in Sasuke that also specialises in spears, swords, kitchen knives and sickles. Mr Hirakawa was born into blacksmithing and has been practising for half a century as a professional which means in this time he has learnt a thing or 2 about what makes quality products. Mr Hirakawa beleive that hand crafted scissors are far more superior to machine made scissors, he claims that hand made tools posses a warmth that machine forged tools lack. Mr Hirakawa beleives that the most important factor to what makes a good tool is the raw materials that are used, Following that is the craftsmen's skills to be able to transform that raw material into a work of art. ( kind of like bonsai right? ). 

How Are The Most Expensive Bonsai Scissors Made?

Blacksmithing has long been a craft of precise hand forged steels and precision work, That is exactly how Mr Hirakawa makes his Bonsai Scissors. For Mr Hirakawa to make a pair of Bonsai Scissors it take him 10hrs a day for around a week for a single pair. The process is the same as making a high quality knife in terms of selecting high quality raw materials, hand forging the material into a rough shape, heat treatment, shaping, grinding and sharpening. The difference here though is this is all meticulously done by hand, and the price reflects that effort.

Not all Sasuke scissors are $32,000 though, Mr Hirakawa does produce some more affordable scissors at the $1100 mark. Obviously these scissors aren't for everybody but there is something to be said about owning such a special pair of scissors. 

So for those of us who cant afford $32,000 for Scissors, Or Even $1100 what is the next best option?

Luckily not all bonsai scissors cost the amount of a small car. There are both manufactured options and Hand crafted options. Both options we sell at Bonsai-En are from the brand Kikuwa who have been in Business for 60 years.

The manufactured options are only semi-manufactured, This means that the steel is forged and roughly shaped using a machine forging of the raw materials and a press to get the rough shape. Once that is done the stamped pieces are then handed over to craftsmen to hand refine the tools and sharpen them precisely. This allows the tools to be created faster but still with some craftsmen quality.

Here are some examples 

200mm Bonsai Scissors

175mm Root Shears

210mm De-Candling Scissors

175mm Bud Shears

We also have some hand crafted Bonsai Scissors which you can order,

Our Hand crafted option is the Aogami Line of Bonsai Scissors, Made from Japanese Blue Steel which is one of the most popular steels for creating Edged Tools. You can find this steel on high end chefs knives all around the world. 

Here are some examples

200mm Aogami Steel Craftsmen Bonsai Scissors

210mm Aogami Steel Craftsmen Bonsai Scissors

180mm Aogami Steel Craftsmen Bonsai Bud Shears

180mm Aogami Steel Craftsmen Bonsai Root Shears

I hope you have enjoyed reading about the most expensive bonsai scissors in the world and how they are made.