Ok that was a quick cut using some utility cutters. Not sure if that is what you are going for. Good tight wraps will help with the forgiveness.
Yours are looking good. Hang in there.
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I think your self-diagnosis is correct; they should be much more wedge-shaped for making up the ordinary types of graft. To get good contact it’s important that the cut faces of the scion be as perfectly planar (flat) as possible. As best I can tell looking at your cuts, I suspect your knife may be dull, or you may be working too tentatively - it seems the best cuts are made with a single forceful stroke of a very sharp knife.
Given that sharpening knives is an art that takes time to learn (and not all knives come perfectly sharp when purchased new), you might try using a brand new disposable (utility knife) blade - even though it doesn’t have the asymmetric bevel folks like for grafting knives, I think a factory-sharp disposable blade will work better for you than a dull knife.
The cuts don’t have to be perfectly flat to take, but I would say that they should be close enough that they should look pretty much flat in a photo.
I don’t quite have the hang of making the cuts reliably, so I waste more scion than I would like getting a cut I’m happy with. The way I was taught was to hold the knife stationary relative to my hand with the blade against my thumb, put the end of the scion between the blade and the thumb, and then pull the scion through, modulating the pressure and the angle of the blade to get the right taper. It seems sketchy but since the knife isn’t actually moving relative to the thumb I’ve never come close to cutting myself. I also sometimes use a right-handed grafting knife and cut away from me ‘freehand’, counting on the speed of the cut to prevent the thin edge from deflecting away from the cut when it’s almost cut through
Photo below shows what the first technique looks like (I’m sure there’s better on the internet); I’m left-handed and only the spendy grafting knives seemed to be available in lefty version, so I got a cheap righty one and laboriously reground it. 
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Here’s a video from Dave Wilson Nursery that shows different grafting cuts.
I’m not too proficient yet with a knife.Being a lefty,I tried to change the blade that way and after filing it down and putting a new edge on it,I realized that it was the wrong side and still had a right handed one.
I then went out and bought some cutters like BobC and use them now with good results. Brady
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuSYbmSgRcY
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I’m right handed, I was holding the scion in my left hand and cutting downward with the knife with my right. Maybe the knife isn’t sharp enough, it is brand new, but it seemed that no matter the angle it wanted to glide along the pith layers and shave off a layer but NOT cut diagonally. I tried a bunch more than I pictured. Even when I tried making one decisive cut I didn’t succeed. Maybe I’ll get my husband to try it tomorrow and see what he thinks. He’s never tried grafting before either but he’s smarter than me at figuring out what’s going wrong when there’s a problem in general!
This is the knife I was using. Maybe it’s too cheap but when I got it did have positive reviews for being used as a grafting knife and at the time I was only thinking of making a couple of grafts.
Apple and pear grafting is very good for beginners, because they are very easy. Just seal the cleft well and no rain leaks in, you will be successful.
I have mostly been using an exacto cutter and making cuts away from myself for a few years. I am just getting comfortable with making conventional cuts with my one edge swiss army grafting knife. I compensated with tight wraps using budding rubbers for less than perfect cuts and got high percentage of takes. First year grafting I didn’t get good takes but I kept with it as I find it so rewarding. It is a fun hobby and a great way to try new varieties.
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Good point @BobVance. For parafilm, it’s definitely easier to put on before it’s in the cleft although it’s possible to do afterwards if you have a tight wrap on the graft union and you’re careful. I’ve improved my wedge cutting ability enough that I am comfortable cutting scions down to a few buds before making the wedge so I know almost always wrap before putting into the cleft. I’ll admit that I sometimes get distracted and forget and in those cases wrap afterward.
You will find different ideas and different knives everyone uses. It is whatever works best for you. I use this knife. https://www.amazon.com/Victorinox-Swiss-Army-Floral-Knife/dp/B0007LL4SY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1491480190&sr=8-4&keywords=grafting+knife
It had a pretty good edge when it came out of the box, but after sharpening, it is really nice now. I also will use my cutter for different things as I showed above. Apples are really forgiving and I think you will surprise yourself after you do a few.
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@aheartforhome like you I was a little hesitant with my first grafting attempt. Started reading too much and overthinking things…Finally decided to just give it a try…what’s the worst that can happen?? the graft fails and you try again.
Found a grafting method I was comfortable with, for me it was the whip and tongue. With a little patience and following the excellent advice on this site I was able to get my first successful grafts. You will too.
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That’s one I also use- sometimes. I’ve been using a bunch of cheap cutting devices such as utility knifes, etc (whatever I can find at hand). I think it gets more important to use something sharp when you are grafting a hard/dense wood like jujubes.
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My very first grafts were ‘bench’ grafts…I did them on a work bench. Out in the field things were very different, but I could replicate one part of the process of bench grafting that became far more difficult in the field, which is: cutting a good wedge on the scion. If I have a flat piece of wood to use as a work surface I can stabilize the scion, instead of trying to work with both hands in free space. The wood surface could be only the narrow side of a 2x4, or a little table or bench that I can use in an area and/or easily move from tree to tree. It gives me much more control over the cut (see photo). This might seem like training wheels to folks who have mastered the two-hands-in-space technique, but I’m not there yet. Also, in ‘free space’ cuts on the tree or wherever I always wear a heavy glove on the non-knife hand. I’m just another beginner…it works for me.
Photo = general idea.
its funny, I got 2 Opinels this Christmas and only used them a few times so I am reserving judgement, but I didn’t like them.
I’m a lefty so not much for single-bevel knives, but my favorites so far, by far, is a smaller 3-blade swiss army and especially a folding utility knife/box cutter…replaceable blades are nice, but the thing that I like most is the weight. It is heavy, but stable, and it really helps my cuts.
I guess the right knife is the one you like and use most proficiently
Mark,
I am also a lefty. I have 2-3 Opinel grafting knives. I’ve found them to light.
My favorite grafting knife is the Victorinox @BobC posted above. The one I have is for lefty. It has single bevel. When I hold it in my left hand and cut scion away from my body, the flat blade cut into the wood in a straight line. No crooked, jagged plane.
It is heavier than Opinel, which is helpful when I apply force slicing through scionwood.
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But like others say, everyone has different knife he/ she likes. Some people can use a box cutter with both eyes closed and still cut perfect angled scions. It is just not me
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Dax
Got yours today…are those labels plastic blinds and just pencil? How do they weather outside?
I thought I’d saved a pic of some of my better later wedge attempts but I can’t find it now. I had better success with a simple pocketknife than I did with the knife I had bought for grafting, even sharpening it. Just not for me I guess. I still didn’t get the greatest wedges but I am cautiously optimistic as buds are growing on grafts I did only a week ago. I worried I didn’t get tight enough contact since I didn’t have electrical tape or rope wrapped around the cleft (just parafilm and then the caution tape, it’s all I could think of!) I was afraid to use duct tape in case it wouldn’t come off well. . .
Anyway, here are a few pictures of the pear grafting. You can see the pear tree is pretty tall and I only grafted onto the bottom 2 feet or so. I didn’t want to cut the top until I’m sure the grafts are taking and I kept a few duplicate branches for the same reason. I wonder, looking at how big the tree is, should I only cut it maybe halfway down this year and then further (to 5 feet or so) next year? I don’t want to hurt it but I definitely want to convert it to a dwarfed, more vase shaped tree even though that is unusual for pear.
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I don’t know if I did a “bad” thing in grafting farther along the branches rather than closer to the trunk but I decided I wanted to try to utilize some of the branch structure in place. . .I figure that means I will have to watch for buds coming out below the graft forever but I can handle that.
When I first started grafting, I chose lower branches like yours. I have found out later that lower branches are heavily shaded by upper branches, lack good sunlight and are not growing as vigorously.
These days I graft much higher on a tree and on vigoruos shoots, including water sprouts. Grafts take much better, grow fater and fruit well that way.
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What mamuang said or you have to cut down the top drastically. I wouldn’t remove the whole top in fear of shocking the tree to much. I would leave one or two branches above your grafts and cut down the rest. When the grafts take and show good growth I would remove the rest of the top.
That is not a problem. I think it’s better to graft somewhat closer to the trunk of the tree than too far out on the limb. The problem with grafting too far out is that most people plant their trees in rows with certain spacing and if you graft too far out you limit the amount of growth you can get from the scion due to the need to prune to an acceptable shape. On the flip-side, don’t graft too close to the tree. If the graft fails you will have no room for a second chance graft. With a dwarf or semi-dwarf trees I think 8-12" from the trunk is a good start. Not only will it allow you to place another scion in the event of a failed graft but it will still have some buds from the stock tree that can grow out and save the limb. This is nice if the branch is a well placed and helps the tree maintain good structure.
It would be nice to have an older mature tree out in the middle of a field with no obstructions that could be grafted with dozens of scions placed all over the tree. Steve (Skillcult) did this on what he calls his “Frankentree”. I think he has 135 varieties of apples grafted to it.