How to clean and take care of our bonsai tools

Cleaning and maintaining your bonsai tools is as important as taking care of your bonsai, so here we tell you How to clean and take care of our bonsai tools.

Cleaning and disinfecting the tools is an essential task for any bonsai grower to ensure that the bonsai grows healthy, strong and radiant. It will help us not only to protect our trees from diseases, but also to enjoy our tools for longer.

The importance of keeping the bonsai tools clean and disinfected

Most of the necessary works for the preservation of our bonsais require tools such as fine scissors for pinching or thick ones for cutting branches, a bonsai wire cutter (basic for repotting), tweezers, bonsai pruning shears and others. Bonsai diseases can be contagious, so if we have an infected tree, we can infect others if we use the same bonsai tool without having previously cleaned and disinfected it. For this reason, an optimal hygiene in our working set will be a crucial task to reduce risks to our small trees’ health.

For disinfection, it is recommended to mix 50% water with 50% bleach, obtaining a perfect solution to sterilize the tools. The next step is to put the tools in a container with this solution. In this way, they will be completely disinfected, and possible contagions will be avoided. We recommend taking care when you handle the contents and, above all, to keep them out of the reach of children.

Keeping our working set clean will help us to preserve the bonsai tools and to achieve more attractive results in our work.

How to clean and take care of our bonsai tools step-by-step

As we have indicated before, it is very important to have a correct hygiene in our tools in order to make them last longer and to avoid any contagion between bonsais. If you want a healthy and strong bonsai, follow the steps explained below.

Sabitori: Anti-rust and impurities rubber

The first step is to remove the rust with the abrasive rubber. This is done by polishing the blades in the direction of the cutting edge, with a soft pressure. This action not only removes the rust residue, but also sharpens the tools. Finally, remove the rubber residues with a dry cloth, as it is done in the pictures.

Sharpening stone for our bonsai tools

Firstly, soak the sharpening stone in a container with water and carefully sharpen it following the angle of the edge of the blades. After sharpening the blades, clean and dry the tools with a dry cloth. For proper drying, you can use absorbent paper or a cloth that absorbs the moisture well, this is very important to avoid oxidation of the materials.

Camellia lubricating oil

Once the tools are dry, we apply a thin layer of camellia oil to protect them from oxidation and make them work more smoothly. In addition to providing optimal hydration, our tools will be protected and will shine on their own.

Camellia oil is a natural product used as a lubricant for bonsai tools. Its purpose is to clean and shine both tools and bonsai pots, and it also acts as a protector against humidity.

The bonsai tool case, a great ally

Storing tools in a suitable case helps to preserve the materials properly and to make them last longer. It also helps to keep them tidy and easy to find.

Now, you know how to clean and take care of our bonsai tools. Remember that keeping your tools up to date is just as important as pampering your bonsai.

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