This lovely little Yew has been collected for 4 seasons and is ready to have some serious bending. I have waited until this seasons new growth has begun before I started the work. I wanted to use the thick branch with the extensive deadwood as a low character branch. The live vein ran up the back of the branch, 75% is deadwood. I started with a fine saw cut all the way through to the live so that when I split the branch it did not go too far down.

Using branch splitters and concave cutters I removed the deadwood as close to the live without compromising the health of the tree. I then drilled two holes into the sawn section, these would secure the thick copper wire that will support the branch and assist in the bend. The whole was then wrapped with wet raffia and secured with cable ties. The bend was done slowly with two hands ensuring a smooth curve with no ‘kinks’ in the live vein. The branch will now be left till the end of the season to recover and continue to grow.