The basic tools are shears, concave cutter, root hook, wire
cutter,
tweezers, and chopstick.

Don't buy a root hook. If you know someone with horses ask them
to GIVE you a hoof pick; or buy one at a tack shop; strong
plastic ones cost $1.00 or so -- a bonsai root hook will
(absurdly) cost $10-$25. If you don't have access to horse
stuff, take an old crocheting hook, bend the tip and use that; or
an old dentist's pick. Or an old dinner fork, and bend it into
shape, or use the chopstick. The free or very low cost
alternatives to a BONSAI root hook are endless.

I've never in my 30 years of bonsaiing used a tweezers for
ANYTHING. Fingers (or a pair of chopsticks??) work great - both
are free.

You can get expensively caught up in the mystique of bonsai
tools. There are a few that are absolutely necessary. The rest
are frosting -- expensive frosting.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Our life is
frittered away by detail . . . . Simplify! Simplify. -- Henry
David Thoreau - Walden

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