Here’s a little note that I just received from Bill Valavanis
I was just looking at your new tool and am wondering something. A few years ago in Japan I got a new tool which looks exactly like yours, but it’s for air layering. It has two sets of parallel blades, I can’t tell if yours has one pair or two. So I was just wondering if yours is actually an air layering tool or bark removal tool.
And here’s my somewhat red-in-the-face reply
Hi Bill. I think you are on to something and now I feel a little slow on the uptake. It does have two set of blades. It was sold to us as a jin tool, and it worked for me for bark stripping when I tried it out, but now that you mention it, why two blade if not for air layering? Guess I’ll have to revisit it on my blog. PS: Have you tried yours for bark removable? It worked quite well for me.
And speaking of deadwood (and maybe just to distract you), here’s the remains of a Monterey cypress on Point Lobos. Photo by Amy Palmer.
Why is this man smiling? It can’t be because of his foot (or because his house burned down last year). It must be because he just outed me and my new tool. Or maybe he’s just excited about the upcoming U.S. National Bonsai Exhibition.