Special Techniques of Bonsai (Part 2): Jin or Shari (Deadwood)

Jin and Shari or Deadwood as it is called in the western countries, adds not only an effective feature to a design but in the case of many old Pine and Juniper, a very realistic one as well. Jins on trees in nature are normally created when branches are broken by strong winds, by the weight of snow or by lightening strikes.

If you have branches that you are not going to require for your final styling you can use them to create jin. The use of jin on a bonsai implies to the viewer an increased age and shows the struggle of the tree to survive.

Shari is made to add age to a tree, or to disguise a bad scar or defect on the trunk. There must be a good reason to have shari. It should not be made just to have a shari. In nature shari are made by storms, rockslides and insect infestations, not to mention lightning and a dozen other things.

If two dead branches occur, one above the other, a shari can be made connecting them. This can have a very natural look and give age and beauty to an otherwise plain tree. Also, occasionally a tree has a large twisted branch with a jin at the tip; a small shari can be made further back on the branch to give it a more aged look.
Shari should be made in the direction of growth of the trunk or branch. Small shari can usually be done in one treatment. Larger shari should be done over a longer period of time because too much removal of bark and live tissue can seriously weaken or kill a tree. If a shari is made small at first, then enlarged, it will give the tree time to adjust to the change. When the wood that is exposed dries out completely it can then be widened. The process can progress over a few years if you desire the majority of the trunk to be deadwood. Man-made shari will look better if they do not go straight up and down the trunk. Natural shari can be in any shape but can be modified with care to effect improvement.

Unfortunately, its design can be difficult. A successful jin must look natural, it must look as though it has been created by nature in order to compliment and not detract from the tree. A common way of creating a jin is by carving using power and hand tool. It takes a great deal of skill, particularly if the wood is featureless. Deadwood features are created by tearing away at the wood to mimic the action of a broken branch pulling away strips of the grain to create a natural effect. These techniques can also be applied when creating jin from branches down to 1/2" in thickness; they are however intended only for species that have fibrous wood. This includes nearly all coniferous species but only some deciduous species.

The purpose of jinning a trunk is to create an effect of an old, dead stump that will compliment the main trunk of the bonsai. 

Jin can be made at any time of the year but if you are doing large branches it is best to wait until the tree is dormant and the sap is not flowing.

When creating dead wood on branches, select branches that are heavy enough to produce good jin. Remember that when the bark and soft tissue are removed what remains is much smaller than the branch you started with. If you want to jin a branch in the future that is not yet large enough, wire it, shape it, and let the wire cut in so that the twist effect will show when the bark is later removed.

When jin are made here and there on a tree it is best to make them small, unless a very large branch is jinned. If the tree is mostly jin, then mixed small and large jin looks good.

The first step is to remove the bark from the portion of wood that is to be jinned. Any remaining soft tissue is also removed. At this point only the part of the stump that is above the soil level will be worked on; further work will be carried out as the stump is revealed after repotting in the future.

The first slithers are pulled away from the stump; the top of the wood is either notched to segment it or crushed with pliers. Each segment is then pulled down and away from the stump with jin pliers or ordinary pliers. When pulling away strips of wood, it is important the live section at the sides or the base are not damaged. Strips rarely stop abruptly above the live wood and often need removing near the base with a knife or similar.

The pulling down of the segments of wood continues on the first half of the stump.

The second half of the stump is then pulled away; it is starting to reveal more of a natural shape. Unfortunately, the current shape resembles a catapult and it is decided to reduce the second half of the stump further.

After reducing the second half of the stump; now the jin is really starting to take shape. Increasingly smaller strips of the grain are now pulled the length of the stump, creating more texture to the wood.As the wood is fibrous, small burrs and pulls are evident. These are best dealt with by gently burning the surface of the wood.

The stump is gently scorched with a naked flame to burn off all the fibres. It is very important at this point to protect the rest of the tree, in particular the foliage, from not only the flame but also the heat that it generates. In this case, a piece of hardboard was used to completely cover the tree from the flame. It is also important that the jin itself is only slightly scorched to remove the fibres otherwise it is possible for the jin itself to set alight!Any blackening of the wood is easily removed by the process of smoothing off and lime-sulphuring. In this picture, the jin has been lightly carved with a small gouge to accentuate its lines and it has been gently sanded down with sandpaper to smooth out any tool marks. Sharp edges are also rounded off to replicate the effect that the action of the weather would have on deadwood in nature.



Once the jin is made, scrape it clean, sand it with emery cloth, (cloth backed sandpaper used by plumbers, available at most hardware stores) wire it and put movement in it if it has none. The jin can now be treated with lime sulfur.
to whiten it and to stop it from rotting in the future. In the future, black ink will be added to the lime sulphur when painting the recesses to add a greater illusion of depth. 

The following morning the lime-sulphur has nearly dried and the work is complete. Once treated, wait until the wood is dry (months later) and then treat with wood hardener.

After the jin is dry and shaped by wire it can be worked on again. Soak the jin with water and remove the softer wood in one direction with a wire brush. This gives the jin an aged look with the grain showing. Then treat it with lime sulfur and wood hardener if you hadn’t previously.
Lime Sulfur should be applied once per year to help preserve wood for the long term. If it appears too white tint the lime mix with sumii ink to the degree of grayness you desire. However, trees with naturally black dead wood, such as olive, should not be made white.
 The effect of the lime sulfur will decrease over the course of a few months so that the jin looks more natural

In the future, when the tree itself has been styled, the jin will be further refined to ensure it compliments other areas of deadwood on the bonsai as a whole. For the time being, it will now be left to dry and weather naturally.

Shari is made by cutting into the hard wood. Since it cannot be wired it should be carefully shaped with a small gouge. Do not use an electric tool except for rough cutting. The marks from electric tools do not look natural, so always finish with hand tools. Treat the shari with lime sulfur and a wood hardener after it has dried as you would with jin.
A nice effect can be achieved with old shari that have a significant rollover. Rollover occurs when the cambium grows rounded at the edge of a shari to heal it. Kill the live section back further to create a double rollover on the trunk.

Thanks to my friend Thanun Patipantada for the pictures.