Creating Bonsai Deadwood

Deadwood can be a really cool part of bonsai and it really can make the difference between an average tree and an amazing one.

It may look like it is very old and something that happens natural, but it is something you can potentially create very easily, right now.

What Is Deadwood On A Tree ?

Deadwood is simply a part of the tree that is dead. It is literally dead wood.

When you look at trees in nature you will see that sections of it may be damaged and will be dead. This can be caused by many things in nature such as storm damage, disease, lighting strikes or just certain areas being shaded out by others causing them to die.

Trees in nature do not have anyone caring for them, so these dead parts will just remain on the tree until they slowly rot away and fall off. 

However, they can really look powerful and beautiful. They show the harsh reality of the conditions a tree might be living in and they can really tell a story about how a tree has lived through struggle at the hands of its environment.

What Is Bonsai Deadwood?

Obviously bonsai are very well looked after; they are extremely pampered compared to their full size brothers in the wild. This means that they do not have the same weathered look that trees in nature can have.

This is a bit of a problem for bonsai growers, as we want our trees to look like miniature forms of trees in nature. This means we need to weather our trees artificially, while making it look as natural as possible. This is where creating deadwood comes in to play.

We can create deadwood by selecting an area of the bonsai tree to purposely kill, solely for aesthetic reasons.

This can really elevate a trees look and make it feel far more natural. Some trees we work on may die back by themselves and we can use this and exaggerate what it has given us to make it tell a story about its struggle and its fight between life and death.

Deadwood On Conifer Bonsai Trees

Deadwood is more suited to conifer bonsai. They naturally grow in more extreme conditions like mountain sides and usually are more weathered and beat up by the environment, which we want to copy in our bonsai.

The wood on conifers is also actually quite hard and will naturally preserve for much longer before rotting off.

Deadwood On Deciduous Bonsai Trees

Deadwood is not normally found on deciduous trees. Its wood is naturally quite soft and is more likely to rot quite quickly.  So while in nature you may see a deciduous tree with deadwood, it will probably not last long.

However, since the wood is quick to rot this means that deadwood on the trunk can rot back until it reaches the live section, which will create a hollow.

These are quite common in nature and can look really cool and can also really improve the look of a deciduous bonsai.

Types Of Deadwood Found On Bonsai

To help identify where the deadwood is found on the tree, there are a number of common names you will hear in the bonsai world. They come from Japan and you do not need to use these terms, but they are nice to know. 

Jin

This is a dead branch; we strip the branch of bark and can often shorten it to make it look like it has snapped off.

Shari

This is strip of deadwood on the main trunk. This can look extremely powerful on pines and juniper bonsai. This could be caused by a lighting strike but is more common when a branch dies and then the vein that was feeding it also dies back.

You will often see jins that turn into shari. Some bonsai trees have shari that are the entire length of the trunk where that section has died all the way back down to the soil surface/roots.

Uro

This is when there is a hollow in the trunk. This is the type of deadwood you would see on a deciduous tree. 

Tanuki

This is a controversial topic as many people do not consider it bonsai. Basically you get a tree that has died. So it is now just a full lump of deadwood.

You carve some channels into this dead tree and then plant a young tree into these grooves. As the tree grows it starts to look like the old dead tree and the new young tree are just one tree.

This makes the young tree look like it has some seriously cool deadwood, when in reality it is two separate trees intertwined.

(I have written a more indepth article about – What Is A Tanuki Bonsai?)

How To Make Bonsai Deadwood

The process of making deadwood on a bonsai is very simple. You just need to take the branch you want to turn into deadwood and remove the foliage. On a conifer this will pretty much sentence the branch to death as it will not regrow new foliage on a bare branch. 

However, this is just going to make the branch look like a bare branch, so you need to remove the bark. 

When you do this the white wood underneath will look much better, but it is fresh wood, so does not looks great. As the wood is fresh, you can still wire it at this point and as it dries it will harden into the position you set.

Some people use a blow torch to burn this new exposed wood, which will dry the wood out. You can also just leave it season and come back to it at a later point. It’s dead now, so it’s not going to grow or change much, just dry out and season and look more natural.

Hard/Soft Wood

If you are making deadwood on a section of the bonsai tree that has died naturally, you will still need to do the same as above, but you will find some of the wood may be rotten. This type of wood will be soft and will easily come away when you run a tool along it.

This wood cannot be preserved so it needs to be scraped away until you are only left with the harder dead wood.

You can use this to your advantage and let nature create the deadwood for you. All you need to do is remove the foliage from whatever branch you want to make deadwood and leave it.  

You can then come back to it in a year or even longer and remove the bark then. You will probably find parts of it have rotten away and gone soft. Just scrape these away along with the bark and you should be left with some pretty cool deadwood. 

Tools You Need To Make Bonsai Deadwood

The tools you need are not that complicated. You probably already have everything.

Scissors

You just remove the foliage with scissors or pruners.

Jin Pilers

You can then remove the bark with a pair of pliers.

You may already have a pair of jin pliers, which as the name suggests is for making jins. You use them by squeezing the branch; this will loosen the bark and allow you to then peel it back.  I’m sure you could still get good results by using a normal pair of pilers.   

Gouge

You can also get bark removers, called gouges, which are basically a round piece of metal at the end of the wooden handle. They are pretty much the same as any wood hand carving gouge, you can use these to scrap away bark and are very good for scraping away soft wood.

Scalpel

You can use a scalpel or any really sharp knife to carve out a section of the trunk; you can then use other tools like the gouge to remove the bark in area you want to remove.

Carving Tools

You will often see people using carving tools. Both hand carving and power tools. This is totally acceptable thing to do and you can really transform a tree very quickly by doing this. 

When you are creating a hollow on a deciduous trunk you can either wait or let nature rot it away the hollow or you can use carving tools.

You can also use tools to add a lot of detail and texture into the new dead wood you are creating rather than letting it weather naturally. This can look incredible but is quite hard to do well.

You will always see people using a blow torch on this type of dead wood. That is to burn off the tool marks and little bits of fuzz they can leave on the wood. The deadwood is burnt and then brushed off with a steel brush. The end result can look very natural and is of course a lot faster than letting nature do it.

(You can read more about Bonsai Tools that you might need)

How To Preserve Bonsai Deadwood?

Once the bonsai deadwood is made, or you have left it to season and form, you need to preserve it. You don’t want your beautiful new deadwood to just rot away. Sadly it will eventually, but we can try and preserve it to last as long as possible.

Lime Sulphur

This is the classic preservative. It will stain the wood yellow, but it will turn white when its dries. This makes the wood look like it has been bleached in the sun for a long time.

Lime sulphur is also really good at killing at pests and mould and this is how it stops the wood rotting faster. You will need to apply this probably yearly to maintain the deadwood on your bonsai.

Wood Preserve

This is literally the stuff you buy in DIY shops for the garden fence.

You need to be careful with this stuff. Firstly it may be coloured, so be aware of that and secondly these can be full of chemicals which is fine when you are slapping it all over you shed, but may be a little troublesome on our living bonsai. I know we are trying to paint the deadwood, but it could potentially kill the living parts, so you need to be careful about what you are putting on your tree.

I have seen dark wood preserves used on deciduous trees to make the deadwood look more natural, especially since the white effect, that you would get from lime sulphur looks so out of place on these types of trees.

I’ve also seen the dark preserve used in hollows on deciduous trunks which can give it some great shadowing and make it look even more realistic.       

Conclusion

Deadwood looks cool and I think it is something you should consider for your bonsai trees. It is not going to suit every species and every style, but you are bound to have a few trees that would really benefit from having the weathered look and feel of a tree that has had to struggle hard to be alive with its battle scars left for all to see.

I love deadwood and hopefully now you know how to make some of your own.