Chopsticks

From BonsaiWIKI

Chopsticks find a number of uses in bonsai. The bamboo type are preferred, as they are more flexible and strong. The small chopsticks available at Asian restaurants and special "bonsai chopsticks", which are a longer, stouter design, are both useful in their own way:

1. Used to drive fresh bonsai soil between roots when repotting to eliminate air gaps;
2. Function as a rake when removing bonsai soil or field soil from roots during repotting;
3. Cut in short lengths and used to mark the front or the planting angle of a bonsai as it is styled;
4. Driven into the rootball to serve as anchor points for securing the tree in the bonsai container;
5. Used as a "dipstick" to monitor the soil moisture level;
6. Broken in short lengths to create wedges to spread and separate trunks in clump style bonsai;
7. Tied to the bottom interior of bonsai containers to provide anchor points for forest style bonsai;
8. Used under bonsai containers with only a single drainage hole to serve as an anchor point for multiple tie-down wires;
9. Scraping moss from the trunk of the tree;
10. Used to drive holes through compacted soil, filled with sand to improve drainage;
11. Inserted in a wire loop to make a turnbuckle;
12. Eating rice!

Index to Bonsai Tools

Concave cutters | Knob cutters | Wire cutters | Wire pliers | Branch splitters | Branch jack | Tweezers | Sieve | Root hook | Root cutters | Soil scoop | Chopsticks | Tamping trowel| Grafting knife | Whetstone | Graving set | Rotary grinder | Pull saw | Turntable

Shears and Scissors

Thinning shears | Decandling shears | Root shears | Leaf shears