Overview of Grafting Tools

Here are the tools Nick and I used to graft this year. From left to right is an Omega grafting tool (blue handle), a Bench grafting tool (orange handle), and a grafting knife. The main one used is the one I've got my hand on. The reason it is superior: it's much faster to use than a knife and the blade design is more useful than the Omega grafting tool. Simply put the Bench grafter has a triangle shaped blade as compared to the Omega grafter which has a blade shape like the Greek letter omega (which kind of looks like a horseshoe). A triangle blade is better because a much wider size-range of scion wood can be used. Anything from 1/8 inch up to an inch. The Omega blade is limited to something in the range of a pencil. Also note that a grafting knife is different than your average pocket knife. The blade is beveled on one side only. Even with a grafting tool it is still handy to have the knife as occasionally an imperfect tool cut needs a bit of detail trim work. And not pictured well is the second blade on the grafting knife. A sharpened bump on the back of the blade is used for summer bud grafting. Oh, and I forgot to mention the best grafting tool of all: a good teacher. Many thanks to Nick for his time and patience showing me the tricks of the trade. In all we made somewhere around 1400 grafted trees - maybe more. And most of them seem to be taking well.