Zenport/Generic Labled Grafting Tool

Thank you very much for the detailed observations Ramv.

I’ve noticed my Zenport from Bangood didn’t have very aligned blades. I made a few cuts, which were satisfactory, but the blades clearly weren’t aligned. I don’t see any adjustment out of this.

That said, I’m think I’m glad I bought the tool. I’ve made a few cuts, and like others’ photos above, the cuts provide much more cambium contact than straight cuts with a grafting knife, or straight cuts with double blade pruners (both of which I own).

Even with all the cheapness of this cheap aluminum tool, I think speed and length of cambium contact will far surpass other grafting tools.

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You have to really screw around to get the blades perfect and perfect isn’t necessary. You’re still going to get equal distance cuts with the way your blades are shown right there, Mark.

I’ve had my Fieldcraft Topgrafter blades just like that many a times. And if the equal distance I’m talking about is a smidge off, it doesn’t matter because you’re getting the same distance on the sides of the scion and of the rootstock every time. And every time is what’s important.

I’m always glad to learn.

Great evaluations @ramv et. al.

Dax

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The red tool.

To be fair, the lighter colored one is pretty good too once adjusted properly.

Really we all don’t know what we have here. A 25-30 dollar tool that will up takes on more difficult to cut wood (or easy) for as @fruitnut said will pay itself off after a few grafts.

I think we all know it’s an excellent tool. While I wish I have the red version now, I’ll let everybody know if or when my less quality version may bite the dust and why and after how many grafts & of what kind of wood.

Best regards,

Dax

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That’s what I’ve noticed so far Dax. My tool with the slightly misaligned blades cuts pretty nice and match up cambiums better than if I cut free-hand with a grafting knife, or cut with a double blade like this:

The double blade doesn’t look super maintained anymore because I gave it to my wife to prune her bushes. The double blade cost me over $50, more than twice the cost of the Zenport, and, as far as I can tell, so far doesn’t work as well.

I think we should all report our successes and failures rate. It would be especially interesting to see how in comparison using this tool with the same scionwood and the same rootstocks and using a grafting blade pairs up. In reality I know that’s not going to happen because why would most folks use a knife when they are seeing the matching cuts this tool is able to deliver. As a study, I would find that interesting.

I’ll see if I can do it to some degree. (4) of this (4) of that. Four plums on plums with a knife and four plums on plums with this tool and persimmons and on and on. If I remember that is.

For those of you that have used a knife in the past and know about what percentages you’ve gotten I would definitely alone for curiosity like to know how this tool changed your percentages one way or the other. Please try to remember to return to this thread to post results.

Thanks,

Dax

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Has anyone successfully used the Zenport type with narrower scionwood. A few years ago I bought one from Amazon and while it worked on thicker fig wood, it wouldn’t work on the typical scionwood I get from CRFG scion exchanges…1/4-3/8" apple scion wood. It was too loosey-goosey, and the thinner wood was hard to line up properly and keep in place. It too often shifted during the attempted cut. I returned it.

I also bought a double cut pruner (from AM Leonard) this year, but so far haven’t liked it that much…but I didn’t use it much either. My best results are with a Husky(aka Ronan) Multi-Cut, I’ve been using it for four years at least.

I’d like to try a Scionon grafting sheers device, but they are around $300 so that’ll have to wait for the chinese to make a $35 copy, or me to devise my own version. If anyone is curious about the Scionon, there are plenty of YouTube videos demonstrating it.

John

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It works well for me for all but the thinnest of scions (1/16"). You definitely need to play attention and aim to where the blades are going to contact the wood or else you may end up with an asymmetrical cut. I have often had to make a second cut because the first try was out of alignment. Curved, knotty wood with short internodes takes practice to to cut symmetrically.

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I played a bit with some hard woods today (plum, black walnut, apple ) And it worked really well producing excellent cuts. See my earlier photo of the fig cut. It looked as good with the harder wood.

I dont think you would have a problem with thinner wood unless it was terribly thin like @danchappell says.

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Hello people, I see that you mentioned the thickness of twigs, so let me introduce you to what is troubling me. I am interested in these scissors, they are good and cheap to buy on aliexpress, but there are still one that I’m interested in. And are more versatile. Here’s the link italian grafting scissors . With these Italian scissors V cuts came more like U and are not so thin at the bottom, so would not be able to graft the thinner twigs as with the first ones. But also they have a omega cut,and bud cut. What do you think would help me more with the grafting?
Also to mention prices :
zenport type - on aliexpress about 20$ with shiping costs, in my country about 50$
italian - about 30-35$ in my country,outside country - unnaffordable .

The V cut is 10x the tool. Those omega tools don’t get a solid connection like the V cut tool does.

There’s no give in the omega. You can’t tie the wood tighter to make better contact. With the V cut tool you can with tape or bud strip or wax tape you can tie the connection tighter if necssary.

I hope that makes sense to you.

Dax

Thanks Dax, it makes sense. I had a similar opinion. Only confused me the bud cut, but the question is how much I would use it. I can do a bud graft with a knife. All in all it seems that I will honor myself with a zenport type after new year, maybe catch some discount for the holidays :slight_smile:

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I received my grafting tool from Aliexpress. There doesnt appear to be any alignment issues and a few testncuts yielded good results. I also have an omega tool that I purchased back in 2015. Its worked well and I probably have over 100 successful grafts with it. It too makes nice cuts that mate perfectly. It does not feel as robust as the zensport knock-off tool becuase its made with more plastic. It also uses an anvil style cut rather than a bypass. I will be able to give a more accurate comparison after this spring when I get more cuts in with the zensport tool.

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I ordered some extra blades from Aliexpress for the Zenport knockoff tool. I ordered them on 12-4. They reported being shipped on 12-5, but still haven’t received them yet.

Those are beautiful cuts but I’m wonder - what happens when the rootstock and scion are not the exact same diameter? How different can they be?

If there is a noticeable difference I’d line up one side. If the difference is small I might center it. I’ll find out soon. I’m about to graft some figs.

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I ordered extra blades as well. I’ve not received mine yet despite receiving the actual grafting tool.

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Took about 3 weeks for mine to arrive.

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so it looks like there are several generics…WHICH one is the better one?

He said it’s built a bit differently too, I think. That one came from Amazon if I remember right.

Dax