Bonsai tree design

[Chad J.]

I'm in the initial idea stages of doing a banzai tree.  Just got some 3/4" or so crane cable.  This may ultimately go as a centerpiece on a live edge table with a large crack in the middle.  

My current plan is to forge weld the cable for about 8 to 10 inches then have it so that the cable unwinds as the branches and roots.  Now,  I could also forge weld several shorter lengths and then stick weld (or TIG if I talk to the neighbor) them into place for the branches and roots.  The beauty is that the welds don't have to be pretty.  

  My other thought was going with a piece of black pipe and working it down though my preferred way is the cable.   If both of those fail I'll go with round stock stick welded, twisted and textured.  This is likely the easiest way but I like the idea of the stands of cable, I think it would give it a more organic curvature. 

Anyway,  the only thing I haven't figured out is the foliage.  Short of making individual leaves, I'm having a hard time envisioning how to do it.   I could go with a textured steel plate or some light guage but it seems like a cop-out.  Suggestions?  

 

I thought I posted this in general,  could a mod please move this?

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Sounds like a cool project!

i couldn’t think of a way to do the foliage so I did a online search for metal bonsai tree,

 and I seen several where the makers curled hundreds of wires to make the leaves an it looked pretty cool,

I don’t know how many strands your cable is but maybe you could just forge weld the center section of the cable and do your roots on bottom an curl the wires on top?

[George N. M.]

It's not to hard to make the roots and branches of a tree out of the wires of a cable but foliage is tougher and fussier.  I'm only spit balling here but how about taking short bits of small cable and welding them to the branches and the separating the wires to make a conifer type of foliage?  I'd want to experiment with the technique and look first.  In any case, you are going to need LOTS of leaves or needles unless you are going for a winter or dead tree look.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

[Scott NC]

2 hours ago, George N. M. said:

winter or dead tree look

  No leaves need apply...  sometimes the best way is the tedious way.

  Edit:  Can you hammer the cable ends flat in bunches to look like leaves and tig them to the branches?  Kinda like George said but flatten the strand tips out?

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

I just has another thought, what if you did the trees body ,branches and roots outta the cable an used copper wire to do the foliage?

[Frosty]

If you braze the ends of the branches and leave little knobs at the ends of strands you can flatten the braze and have fall colors. There are different kinds of brazing rod so you could have different shades of gold, bronze, copper, silver, etc. 

Sounds like a fun project.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Chad J.]

Holy cow that's a beautiful idea Frosty!  Gonna have to learn to braze...

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I'm going to try a few different ways on this. 

[swedefiddle]

Good Morning Chad,

Oxy/Acetylene Brazing will give you the control you will need. Both sides that you want to Braze will need to be at a dull red heat, a gas welding tip of a sufficient size will be needed. Yes, if the cable is big enough, you might use the cutting tip for the pre-heat/Brazing. I just had an IDEA, (light bulb moment). Unravel some of the strands and open up the strands with a flat tipped Marlin Spike (with the flat tip you can pick through the strands, to open it up). Slip the branches in between the strands. Easy-Peeze.

Neil