Safe whip/tongue grafting

General Fruit Growing
#1

I’ve got loads of small diameter scions(thanks to a forum member) and root stock(about 50) of persimmon this year. Rootstock was ordered from the Missouri Dept of Conservation and about 25 out of 100 rootstock are big enough for whip/tongue. Haven’t liked to whip/tongue much in the past due to having to make a cut where slipping the knife would cut me. How to do whip/tongue without cutting yourself? Recommendations?

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#2

A glove something like this may work.bb
https://www.amazon.com/ChefsGrade-Cut-Resistant-Safety-Glove/dp/B00GU1RD2G

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#3

After making the slanting cut where I am cutting away from my hand I slip an old CD or DVD over the rootstock or scion by poking it through the hole. The disc is then a barrier between my hand holding the wood and the knife making the tongue cut. If you could find some of those small sized disks they used to make for promos or distribution software, that would be a little easier to work with, but I’ve had no trouble using the regular disk.

#4

You might check out these videos by @SkillCult:

@Barkslip has some excellent information here. This post of his is a great place to start and I highly recommend it:

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#5

Thanks for all of the above. I put the glove in my Amazon cart. I am still a little nervous when using my new knife on whip/tongue cuts.

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#6

I would not use a glove while performing whip and tongue grafts. I think grip would be difficult.
Using proper technique is 100% safe.

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#7

Cut away from you; you should have left- and right-cut blades available. My grafting tool has two folding blades, one of each. I regularly flip between them when needed on a given graft.

#8

Thanks! Will watch the safe cut video and do more practicing not on the real stock

#9

I don’t have fine motor skills and patience for whip and tongue.

I just want to tell you that I’ve found that gloves very cumbersome. My hubby bought them for me so I could avoid self mutilating when grafting. I could not do any step of grafting well i.e. cutting, wrapping, etc. with gloves on.

I admire people who can cut and manipulate their grafts with such thick gloves on.

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#10

I agree with Paul (ribs1), good technique, a knife that fits your hand, a very sharp blade and being focused on what you’re doing is what you need. Never make a cut without having complete control of your knife. Along with the youtubes there are tons of carving books to give you some instruction. I always cut toward me, much more control that way. A good sharp pair of hand pruners work great for the initial diagonal cuts. I don’t consider myself an expert carver, which is why my husband does the W&Ts, though I do, too. I do the wrapping which is why I really like W&T - it makes that part easier. But between us we’ve carved over a thousand handcarved spoons and except for one occasion the only blood let was reaching for something and getting knicked by a blade on the bench.

It might help to go cut a bunch of twigs and sit down and whittle away with whatever knives you have, finding one that suits you, getting used to and familiar with the tool and various techniques.Then go on to the W&T angles. As many folks have reported, you don’t have to have Skillcut’s beautiful carving skills to have a graft succeed. A lot of us new grafters have succeeded. Oh, and don’t forget to have fun at it, too! Sue

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