I would suggest you get a grafting jig. It works well for whip and tongue grafting. I have one. I got it from Northwest Cider Supply. It has several advantages for people like me that use knifes rarely and do at most 15 grafts a year. First, it has a cutting guard that protects your hand when making tongue cuts. Second it comes with an instructional video disc that shows you how to use it and how to correct the “mistakes” you make. Third, the main diagonal cuts are made with a wood chisel instead of a knife. Since your using a chisel and cutting away from yourself you can use a lot more force. It makes whip and tongue much easier. It doesn’t work for cleft grafting and of course can’t be used graft in the field while you’re on a ladder but all and all it was a good investment for me.
@Skillcult, Kudos on your whip-and-tongue/cleft grafting video. I do a few grafts each year and consider myself an advanced beginner, but that video really made it all “click” for me in terms of technique. In fact, I used it to teach my friend from the local garden club to graft. We both have apple trees in our yards, and we each grafted 5 additional varieties onto them. We did the grafting on March 15; so far they all look good. Using the techniques in your video made it much easier and safer to achieve a good cut.
That’s great. There may be some “art” in the timing and what to select for scion wood etc. But that is primarily just information. The barrier for most is the art of using a knife to make the graft well.
I’m probably screwed then. 
- its actually $42 for the knife and $5 for shipping. buy 2 shipping is free. his name is Corey Cunningham scenicroadtrip@yahoo.com if anyone else is interested.
FWIW, I bought (Amazon) a “5116/L Antonini Professional Grafting and Budding Knife with Bark Tab” for ~$10 and liked it better than the box cutter I used last year. Single bevel, arrived very sharp, worked like a champ.
Thanks. I picked up a 950-8 off Ebay for a bit less, it’s a shorter knife. Listed as new old stock. They list the 950 and 953 as “Copying” knives. Found a website from 2010 with the company still listing product. If they’re out of business, it must have been relatively recent.
This is about the best I can do.
Looks like you’re just about there! I didn’t quite believe him at first, but when I was having this same issue, @Barkslip suggested my knife wasn’t sharp enough. I went back to the stones, and sure enough, I was making perfect, straight, flat cuts all of a sudden. And I could cut tongues just fine, too! Now, the proof will be in the pudding when I actually start grafting next week…
That will work, though.
thats what mine was. it was a older knife but the blade looked brand new. had a little discoloration around the bolster pins in the handle but was never used. rubbed the wood with a little linseed oil and it cleaned up like new. really well made and i can shave the hair off my arm with one stroke.
Too much disparity about knives and not enough recognizing that the right tool for one person or for one type of graft may be the wrong tool under other conditions. I watched a professional grafter working pecan rootstocks in South Georgia just over a year ago. He was using a hand made knife that looked like a 2 foot long section of a wooden hoe handle with a 3/4 inch wide single bevel blade with another short handle on the other side of the blade. He made cuts on rootstocks by first making a short training cut about 3/4 of the way through the rootstock, then went below the training cut and made a nearly perfect bevel cut for a whip and tongue graft. Why did he make a training cut? Because pecan is relatively hard wood and would tend to cup the first cut. The second cut did not have the tendency to cup. The rootstocks were between 3/8 inch and 3/4 inch diameter with most near 5/8 inch. How did he use the knife? He grabbed the long handle with his right hand and the short handle with his left and pulled upward with both hands.
Oh, and for thoroughness, I have a Klein tools sheepfoot knife that is commonly called a sheath knife in the telecommunications industry. “Sheath” refers to the use of the knife to break the sheath open on copper cable, not to the leather holder for the knife. It is single side sharpened and kept so sharp I can easily shave with it.
frickin’ fantastic, Darrel. wow that’s a hell of a knife you got there, too.
I read that explanation when the last time it was that you posted and couldn’t understand the motions involved. So well-appreciated.
@jcguarneri congratulations.
Dax
Pix?
weirdly looking on Amazon I can’t seem to find this knife
Scott
Hmm, see that… Stuff comes and goes on there seems like…
I have a sheeps foot Antonini I carry for field grafting.
A good knife for the price.
Here are links that have images on the Northwest Cider Supply website.
Thanks.
I have tried both and I have had much better success with the Victorinix (granted I’ve done >200 with it and like 6 with the Tina). Do I need to sharpen the Tina or do you think it comes sharp? Why do you think it is superior? Do you have any tips? It just feels duller.