I purchased an inexpensive Bonsai Tree Repotting Tool - Saw Blade Sickle 7" on Amazon. The tip was bent when I received it, but straightened out easily and works well for my small collection. The shipping was about equal to the price I paid. So… probably not made and imported from Japan. The blade works fine for my use, scrapping at the surface, not digging deep. The teeth look much more aggressive on the tool you have a link too. The less aggressive tool I have looks more like the one Ryan uses. But I’m sure mine is not a high quality blade. It does the job.
So do you have an opinion on the type of blade? I noticed that your sickle has very fine teeth and not the aggressive teeth shown in the other link. Check out the azalea repot to see the size of the teeth. https://live.bonsaimirai.com/library/video/azalea-repotting image of kama about 21:53
I will be adding a few repotting tools to my website next week. Repotting sickles/Kama is one of the tools I will be adding. I will be adding in 3 different ones. All the stuff coming in next week will be Kaneshin brand. If it interests you I will post a link so you can follow up next week or purchase from the other fine retailers.
@Bonsai_bob - I don’t have an opinion on size of teeth. I had no idea what a kama was until Ryan’s video. When repotting a few trees in grow boxes last week I had wonderful rootage (yay) but it was growing into the sides of the wood box and in my head I’m just thinking how much I would have appreciated a proper kama.
@Rafi has shared that he used a curved linoleum knife, or a banana knife that are available at most hardware or big box stores. Not a kama, but will do the job. If you need to cut roots be sure to do it as cleanly as possible to avoid the tears that develop into rotting roots. Right tool for the right results.
Those linoleum knifes don’t have teeth but are extremely sharp. I use one in my repots and don’t feel that is snags or rips roots, seems to do a clean job.