I’m a woodworker and have a pretty sophisticated sharpener http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Tormek-C101.aspx?gclid=CJr_2I7WgcsCFYY_aQodUPwLkw It uses a felt wheel at slow speed that you put a buffing compound on. The blade ends up with a mirror finish, and the performance is quite above the factory sharpness. I use the same thing on the blade on my utility knife.
This way you can slice your finger with a nice, clean cut that glues together well in the emergency room.
Applenut. I like your vise-thingy for holding the rootstock. I hadn’t thought of that.
Normally on web forums people learn something from another then repost later as their own original thinking. But I want to say you were the first person I ever heard of that was doing single bud, which I now recommend to people. You posted it a few years ago on another forum. I gave it some thought and adopted it. that small scion had less leverage on the union and etc. If you look at a tree in the spring there are no dud buds, or at least none that look fine at grafting time. I actually do 2 buds though. I have a boxer that was helping and broke off some growing buds and with just one I had to plant the rootstocks in a nursery area to do the next year. By boxer I mean a doggie, not Mike Tyson. Although both are equally good on delicate stuff.
OK, here’s the promised photo of grafting a larger scion to a smaller rootstock, in this case a 1/2" scion to a 3/8" rootstock. It actually goes quite quickly. I’m able to use a lot of scionwood I’d previously have to toss.
OK I’m guilty 
I looked at the Craftsman Utility cutter and ordered one. It came yesterday and I’ve been “playing” with it and I think with a little more practice it will work much better for me than my Opinel knife. I did too much “whittling” with my Opinel trying to get a straight edge on the scion. This Utility cutter makes a nice straight cut on the scion. Everyone has their own way of cutting scion and I think I’ve found mine.
I purchased one also. My local store had one, but the blade was longer and more money to replace so I ordered a craftsman. Thanks for the tip Applenut!
I found two different Craftsman utility cutters, see below…
One is half the price of the other and I can’t see a practical difference as it relates to our use of it . ???
CRAFTSMAN HANDI-CUT
AND
CRAFTSMAN EDGE CUTTER
Mike
I have the Handi-cut also, and like it too. However, with the longer blade, WATCH WHERE YOUR LEFT HAND FINGERS ARE THAT ARE HOLDING THE SCION. The longer blade reaches farther than you’re expecting.
On both of these I hone the blade on a felt buffing wheel until they are mirror polished. If you’re trying to hone on a high-speed bench grinder with a buffing wheel and buffing compound, DON’T HOLD THE BLADE WITH YOUR FINGERS. The wheel can grab that blade and whip it around, and you’ll say hi to the nice people in Urgent Care. Hold it with pliers instead.
I already owned a craftsman utility cutter and gave Kevin’s method a try wrapping a pencil size scion with a hand towel and putting in my bench vice and it did work like a champ. Even if you are not doing bench grafting you can precut the scion wood to a nice V shape before taking it out to the orchard. The beauty of the system seems to be that you are not having to hold the scion wood in your hand while making the cut, thus lowering the chance to near zero that you will cut your hand.
I like the box cutter blade one because it’s shorter and the blades are plentiful and cheaper to replace. At least that was my thinking when I purchased it.
The gentleman in the video was Applenut, I believe.
I have had no success with chip budding so far but won’t mind trying again.
Looks great! In a year or so you’ll have trouble spotting that graft.
If I see what I think I see there (two shoots competing with each other) you may find this song relevant soon:
I would like to add my praises to the cleft graft. I use it mostly for pawpaws–usually on stock of about 1/4"–and try to match up caliber of scion and stock. I probably get about 85% take, even when I can line up only one side. Each spring I help out at a grafting clinic, and this is the graft I teach to beginners. It’s gratifying to see someone succeed in their first attempt at grafting.
I admit to being whip-and-tongue challenged. But the cleft works for what I need. Recently I came across someone’s idea of cutting a short cord across the face of the stock–instead of using a diameter–when the calibers don’t match up. Seems like a great idea which I will try this spring. Anyone tried this?
I’m curious if anyone is using the cleft on small nut stock.
Marc
Mark,
I did follow your advise earlier and took the weak graft out. It’s space has finally filled up!
Have a question on cleft graft. I was trying a few grafts on figs today (thanks to @Stan and @fruitgrower for the scions). All of these grafts were with smaller diameter scions than the root stock. This means that I’m only trying to align the cambium layers on one of the edges of both the rootstock and scion.
The problem now is, as a beginner, my cut on the scions didn’t turn out to be symmetrical (exact Vs). This leads to good cambium contact on one side and poor alignment (even sometimes with gaps) on the other side. How big of an issue is this? I guess I’ll find out in a few weeks, but wondering if this is known to not work at all. Would cambium alignment on one of the sides (and one of the edges) is good enough for the graft to take and heal the other side as well?
@californicus. Line it up the best you can. If the root stock is big enough you can add an optional scion to the other side. Wrap scion and cut area of stock with parafilm. I use electrical tape to tighten the scions in. Hope this helps.
What @Auburn said. I’ve had some scions I just couldn’t seem to cut straight on, and ended up pulling them really tight to try to force them, but they still worked. Pear, apple, even plum can be pretty forgiving.
I’ve gotten to where I cut the wedges on my scions as long and skinny as is reasonable, and I like to cut something of a shoulder at the top. In other words, they’re not straight wedges at the top - they flare out. And they’re pretty flexible.
Here’s some really nice work by a really good grafter who used to post elsewhere. You have to scroll down on the thread to where you find Feb. 12, 2018. (It’s not that I recommend you try that particular graft if you don’t care to - I’m just using it as an example of a way to cut a steep shoulder on a long, skinny graft). Konrad’s graft is inspiring, though, and I’m going to give it a shot this year. Profile - ILParadiseFarm - Growing Fruit
Something that helps on cleft and bark grafts: after the scion is cut and you’re ready to place it take your knife and very delicately shave off a tiny sliver along each edge of the scion, right where the bark ends. That’s supposed to increase the area of cambium that can knit to the cambium of the root stock.
Good luck and have fun!
Thanks Bill. I used the electrical splicing tape - Stan’s recommendation. So much better than fussing with rubber bands.
Thanks Mark. I do shave off the tiny edges to expose more cambium. I learned this from fruitmentor/@JoeReal’s pics on bark grafting for citrus. However, I realize my Vs on the scion are quite short. As you say, I should make them a bit longer. Fig scions are quite bent, so I couldn’t cut a long V and still keep it straight on many of my scions.
