I am a freak for sharp tools. I sharpen them before use, and clean and oil them after use.
As to sharpening, whet stones from grit grade 300 to grade 5000, always very wet.
I have a special sharpening tool (ceramic) from Victorinox for small blades and knives.
The brand I use for the stones is Suehiro, from Japan.
So I ask, what do you use to sharpen your tools?

In my area there are still professionals doing this. It is a craft nearly dying, so I like to support them. I leave all my cutting tools from the kitchen, workshop and garden 2 times a year. Bonsai scissors is 3 euro to sharpen and much better than I would be able to do myself.

Tropfrog wrote:

0. It is a craft nearly dying, so I like to support them.

That's an excellent point, and I agree.
But on the other side I love some challenges, specially bonsai related, so I have decided to learn how to sharpen my own tools, and it works! Besides keeping myself busy and not worrying about my Kaneshin goods being perhaps ruined by someone I don't know very well.

All Good points. I know him very Good by now. Been in the business for 30 years and I have used his services for 10 of them. Not everyone have the luxury of skilled professionals close by.

I have been trying to find alternatives for expensive bonsai tools, of good quality and easy to find anywhere.

First a surgical pair of scissors , 15 cm, flat.
VERY useful for trimming Azaleas, small shohin in general and junipers. Very sharp!




Then a...
Potato peeler.
Yes, to make jin.
It works very well to peel off the bark of pines, junipers and broadleaves when one needs bare wood.



Have you improvised with alternative tools?
If so, let me know!

Personally, I use only a small pruner, bonsai scissors and a small thin saw. These three tools are enough for me to take care of my bonsai tree, although I still plan to expand my range of tools in the future. I haven't sharpened them yet, but it's never too late to start sharpening tools! By the way, what tools can you advise me to buy in addition to those that I already have? I'm just not sure which ones I need and which ones I don't, there are just too many of them. By profession, I am engaged in Marine Engineering, so I don't really understand how to properly care for a small tree, to be honest. It would be very cool if you could give me a couple of tips, please!

Maryldeva wrote:

Personally, I use only a small pruner, bonsai scissors and a small thin saw. These three tools are enough for me to take care of my bonsai tree, although I still plan to expand my range of tools in the future. I haven't sharpened them yet, but it's never too late to start sharpening tools! By the way, what tools can you advise me to buy in addition to those that I already have? I'm just not sure which ones I need and which ones I don't, there are just too many of them. By profession, I am engaged in Marine Engineering , so I don't really understand how to properly care for a small tree, to be honest. It would be very cool if you could give me a couple of tips, please!

There are a lot of video tutorials on YouTube about how to take care of your bonsai tree. I'm sure even if you just Google it, you will definitely find what you are looking for!

I use a old pair of small, houlsehold scissors to trim roots, and plain old wire cutters for cutting wire to go onto the tree. You really need special wire cutters to take the wire off.

The scissors also do well cutting off flower buds, etc. I do use pruners for cutting back leggy growth.