Grandpa’s Orchard has an interesting new grafting tool for sale. Unfortunately it’s a bit pricey, but someone might be interested in it.
https://www.grandpasorchard.com/Tree/Z-Scionon-Grafting-Shears
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Those look like they would work very well, I wanted to buy some last spring but the price scared me off LOL. I thought those aluminum bud clips looked pretty cool too.
I’ve been very impressed with Grandpa’s, as far as packaging and overall br tree health they have been the best for me so far.
Might be wrong…but these look to come from New Zealand.
Video…this thing is cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbvEQS2GCS8
Neat video. They look sharp! My wife cringes every time I sharpen something.
Thats a nice tool but for about $200 less I think I would use one of these:
http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-edge-utility-cutter/p-00937309000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1
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Looks good but it makes my 2 dollar box cutter look great.
That’s what I use.Lowes Hardware had them in a package.I think the price was about $6.One was like that Craftsman,with a 3 inch blade and one with a 4 inch.I like the 4 inch better.It makes a longer cut and has helped my grafting,because right now,it’s difficult for me to make the same repetitive cut with a knife. Brady
4 inch model
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I bought a pair of the scionon shears a couple years ago when I had them shipped from New Zealand.
My problem is that my scionwood seems to be twice as hard as everything I see in videos, and the blade has a hard time cutting through it. It gets to the point where the fine edge of the blade actually bends over after about a dozen cuts or so. It’s like this even on wood I freshly cut that still has leaves on it.
They are a wonderfully engineered piece of machinery, lots of thought went into them. Unfortunately they just sit in the drawer while I use my dollar store utility knife to do most of my cuts.
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Keep it simple. A low cost box cutter knife and disposable blade. Simple, Cheap, and works well for me.
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I bought a small Old Hickory knife at a flea market for a buck. My brother worked it down and made it a single bevel edge. I tried it out on a couple of twigs and it seemed to work fine. I used a box cutter last spring but I struggled making straight cuts, most of mine were concave. I think the blade being thicker also helped. I may have been flexing the flimsy blade in my box cutter .
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I reworked an Old Hickory into a grafting knife too, and it has worked quite nicely. I’ve had some luck with hacksaw blades ground down, tempered and hafted. Sometimes use my case knife with the spay blade.
Alan linked to an Italian made pruning shear which has identical beveled blades on both sides, and which he uses to make whip grafts. They let you get a decently long taper when you cut the stock and the scion, which works better than the cut you get with the nippers we’re all probably used to using. But my Felcos seem to work OK too- I’ll know more this spring, when I get a closer look at last year’s grafts.
My friend has a nursery and grafting business (doing thousands of grafts per year and employing several people) and he wants to buy Scionon SGC6-GBU3/TAU1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atasiGrY8Yg
Kevin, I was looking for some info on Scionon here and see you got some experience although reading your comment doesn’t sound too encouraging. He is about to pay for it but I am not sure if I shouldn’t talk him out of it. Could you please write which type you were using? Anyone else got any experience with Scionon?
Thank you very much for any information! By the way they have multiple distributors worldwide now (including one in US) so it’s a bit easier to get.
I have the grafting shears, but my team in Uganda has the SGC6-GBU3. It’s rare that our scionwood matches up diameter with the rootstock, and we have to plant the rootstock in the nursery row before the scionwood arrives since they have no refrigeration. We end up doing mostly cleft grafts, and for that the $25 Sears Craftsman cutter works well. The Scionon machines are wonderful feats of engineering, our model just doesn’t fit the usual commercial model.
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Yes I guess the same diameter is crucial if you want to use grafting machines. He is buying rootstocks and can pick the diameter so it should be all right. They run for about 470$ here in Europe so he is going to buy one and I will try to post a report after the grafting season is over. Thank you Kevin
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Is the tool for the purpose of cutting scion wood for cleft or bark grafts?
I almost always do splice grafts as I usually graft common fruits to established trees- by established, I don’t necessarily mean bearing age, I mean trees I’ve been growing at least a year with healthy shoots to graft onto- preferably one-year shoots.
For the scion cuts I make a double bladed Italian pruning shear is the best tool I’ve found. Not as cheap as some tools mentioned here, but at about $50, well worth the investment for me because of more takes in less time.
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Not sure why is he getting it, maybe to save on workforce or for tax deduction?
I haven’t studied the tool or read any manuals but you can supposedly use 7 grafting techniques with it.
He is using whip & tongue for the most part so I am sure that’s what the machine is going to be used for.
I know many people will not agree but he always says cleft grafting is the amateur’s way of grafting and uses basically only whip&tongue, chip budding and t-budding. I am going to visit him in the end of January/beginning of February when the grafting season starts so I will share his impressions.
Alan, I am like you. I also use mainly splice graft (or t-bud in the summer) and cheap utility knife with parafilm.
I do only about 50-100 grafts per year (both to established trees and new rootstocks) so I don’t need any pricey setup for that 
He is grafting thousands, maybe tens of thousands per year so that’s a different story.
It’s a different story if you believe a whip and tongue is superior to a splice- which I don’t. I can’t understand why anyone feels to need to drive around the block first before putting their car in the driveway. I’ve lots to do in spring besides graft.
I think you misunderstood my comment but that’s fine. I said I also use splice. The comment was about the nursery guy not using cleft.
Yes Paul, I was commenting on him and not you. Maybe challenging you to question him when you see him as to why he uses a more difficult method to get the same results. Lots of bleeding hands have been the result of this unnecessary procedure in my opinion. Of course, once one acquires the skill, pride will be part of the calculation just as my inability to splice may alter my opinion for similar reasons.
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