Selecting A Grafting Knife
Tina: Tina knifes are considered by most experienced grafters to be the "gold standard" for grafting knives. They are somewhat pricey, but of very high quality. One of the less expensive ones for a right-hander is the fixed blade #685 (it can be gotten on the internet for around $50 -- google "Tina 685"). The left handed Tina is a folding knife, Tina #640-10L, and a quite a bit more expensive at around $115 or so. I have such a high regard for my Tina #685 that I keep it in a special case and don't use it for regular grafting, but as a kind of "standards" knife. When I sharpen my other grafting knifes I do a real world test on a scion (not just cutting paper) and compare them with with my Tina (I make alternate cuts down the scion with each knife to make it as much an oranges-to-oranges comparison as possible). I don't stop sharpening my other knives until they cut as easily (control and accuracy) as my Tina.
Antonini: In 2017 I acquired several inexpensive grafting knives (under $15) for a class I was teaching on summer chip budding which doesn't require very much from the knife in comparison to dormant season whip and tongue grafting. I still ran all of them through my "test" on pencil-sized scions to see how they compared to the Tina. Boy was I surprised--the Antonini right out of the box could keep up with the Tina as I alternated cuts (a Tina cut, then a Antonini cut, then a Tina cut, etc) down a test scion. This was the Antonini 5777/N with a black plastic handle for under $15 delivered to my door. Amazon also had a red handled (also plastic) Antonini 5771/R for under $15 so I ordered it. When it arrived it looked ok, like the black handled one, but it did not cut very well right out of the box. However, with just a little more sharpening with Norton 1000 and Norton 4000 grit stones it was just as good as the black handled Antonini (and the Tina). I was puzzled by this and checked with the company to see if there were any substantive differences between the two knives. I learned the steel was identical, but that they had two different places they sent the knives to for preparation for packaging and apparently the company handling final preparation of the black handled knives was more thorough in their sharpening. This was good news since I like knives with brightly colored handles because they are easier to keep track of when grafting. Now I do my personal grafting with the red handled Antonini that has been sharpened to function as well as a Tina. The black handled Antonini is my back-up. And I hold back my Tina as my "standards" knife.
[ February 2020 update: I just bought three Antonini grafting and budding knives on Amazon (fulfilled by iksysupply.com) for under $10 a piece. I ran them through their paces with grafting-size apple scions. The red (5771/R) and black (5777/N) ones were up to the Tina challenge right out of the package. Pretty impressive for a $10 grafting knife. The one with the wood handle (5016/L) was disappointing but probably will be ok with a session on my Norton 1000 and 4000 stones. But I would suggest you avoid the wood handled one because the blade did differ (didn't have "Stainless Italy" on the base of the blade - maybe a different metal formula?) from the blades on the red and black handled versions. ]
Opinel: The Opinel comes with either a stainless steel blade or a carbon blade in several sizes. Most grafters using Opinels prefer either a #6 or a #7. If you have a smaller hand you might prefer the #6. If you have a particularly big hand you might even want to go up to an #8 or #9. The blade on the Opinel is not a true grafting blade because it has a double bevel instead of the single bevel commonly found on grafting knives. However, because the blade is so incredibly thin and sharp it is being used for grafting. The other reason it is used in grafting is that you can get it from Amazon delivered to your door for between $15 to $20, an incredible value. Although the Opinel is very capable as a grafting knife it doesn't have the "rino nose" for lifting bark like the Antonini, so I end up preferring the Antonini. If you are left handed and don't want to kick out the $100 needed to get a left-handed Tina, you should consider using the Opinel because its thinness gives you pretty good control without the "handedness bevel" found on the thicker bladed grafting knives.
Other knives: Using my Norton sharpening stones I have been able to get several other inexpensive (some as low as $6 delivered) knives to perform pretty well, although some have taken quite a bit of sharpening to be ready to perform. I would probably steer most people away from those to an Antonini (red and black handles) for an inexpensive, but impressive knife, or to the Tina (about 5 times the cost of the Antonini).
Making the whip and tongue cut - the true test of sharp grafting knife: The bevel on the grafting knife is crucial to a controlled cut that is perfectly flat across the entire surface of the cut. For a right-hander the two pieces of the whip and tongue are cut in the following fashion: the rootstock or scion is held in the left hand close to the chest and the right-handed knife pulled across the chest to the right. The right-handed knife's bevel gives you control to dig in just right and not skate across the rootstock or scion, requiring some corrective cutting. If you want to cut away from your self with your right hand (vs. cutting across your chest in a pull stroke) then you need a left handed knife to get the control required (better to master the correct right handed pull than the incorrect push stroke with the right hand).
Here is a great You Tube to see the proper method of cutting for a right-hander using a right-handed knife:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCaRqvoL6Lc
Especially note from 0.35 seconds to 1:55 seconds.
Note that he achieves the flat cut with a single stroke and that there is no corrective cutting when he grips the rootstock or scion in his left hand (stationary near his chest) and draws to knife across his chest to the right with his right hand.
You do see a push stroke with his right hand on scions. That cut is not part of the whip and tongue. He is merely using his knife with that quick push stroke to cut excess scion wood after he has selected the section of scion he will use that has two buds above where he made the long slanting cut for matching scion to rootstock. Most of us would use hand pruners to make that cut, but since he has such a sharp knife he just uses a simple push stroke to cut off the excess scion material.
Antonini: In 2017 I acquired several inexpensive grafting knives (under $15) for a class I was teaching on summer chip budding which doesn't require very much from the knife in comparison to dormant season whip and tongue grafting. I still ran all of them through my "test" on pencil-sized scions to see how they compared to the Tina. Boy was I surprised--the Antonini right out of the box could keep up with the Tina as I alternated cuts (a Tina cut, then a Antonini cut, then a Tina cut, etc) down a test scion. This was the Antonini 5777/N with a black plastic handle for under $15 delivered to my door. Amazon also had a red handled (also plastic) Antonini 5771/R for under $15 so I ordered it. When it arrived it looked ok, like the black handled one, but it did not cut very well right out of the box. However, with just a little more sharpening with Norton 1000 and Norton 4000 grit stones it was just as good as the black handled Antonini (and the Tina). I was puzzled by this and checked with the company to see if there were any substantive differences between the two knives. I learned the steel was identical, but that they had two different places they sent the knives to for preparation for packaging and apparently the company handling final preparation of the black handled knives was more thorough in their sharpening. This was good news since I like knives with brightly colored handles because they are easier to keep track of when grafting. Now I do my personal grafting with the red handled Antonini that has been sharpened to function as well as a Tina. The black handled Antonini is my back-up. And I hold back my Tina as my "standards" knife.
[ February 2020 update: I just bought three Antonini grafting and budding knives on Amazon (fulfilled by iksysupply.com) for under $10 a piece. I ran them through their paces with grafting-size apple scions. The red (5771/R) and black (5777/N) ones were up to the Tina challenge right out of the package. Pretty impressive for a $10 grafting knife. The one with the wood handle (5016/L) was disappointing but probably will be ok with a session on my Norton 1000 and 4000 stones. But I would suggest you avoid the wood handled one because the blade did differ (didn't have "Stainless Italy" on the base of the blade - maybe a different metal formula?) from the blades on the red and black handled versions. ]
Opinel: The Opinel comes with either a stainless steel blade or a carbon blade in several sizes. Most grafters using Opinels prefer either a #6 or a #7. If you have a smaller hand you might prefer the #6. If you have a particularly big hand you might even want to go up to an #8 or #9. The blade on the Opinel is not a true grafting blade because it has a double bevel instead of the single bevel commonly found on grafting knives. However, because the blade is so incredibly thin and sharp it is being used for grafting. The other reason it is used in grafting is that you can get it from Amazon delivered to your door for between $15 to $20, an incredible value. Although the Opinel is very capable as a grafting knife it doesn't have the "rino nose" for lifting bark like the Antonini, so I end up preferring the Antonini. If you are left handed and don't want to kick out the $100 needed to get a left-handed Tina, you should consider using the Opinel because its thinness gives you pretty good control without the "handedness bevel" found on the thicker bladed grafting knives.
Other knives: Using my Norton sharpening stones I have been able to get several other inexpensive (some as low as $6 delivered) knives to perform pretty well, although some have taken quite a bit of sharpening to be ready to perform. I would probably steer most people away from those to an Antonini (red and black handles) for an inexpensive, but impressive knife, or to the Tina (about 5 times the cost of the Antonini).
Making the whip and tongue cut - the true test of sharp grafting knife: The bevel on the grafting knife is crucial to a controlled cut that is perfectly flat across the entire surface of the cut. For a right-hander the two pieces of the whip and tongue are cut in the following fashion: the rootstock or scion is held in the left hand close to the chest and the right-handed knife pulled across the chest to the right. The right-handed knife's bevel gives you control to dig in just right and not skate across the rootstock or scion, requiring some corrective cutting. If you want to cut away from your self with your right hand (vs. cutting across your chest in a pull stroke) then you need a left handed knife to get the control required (better to master the correct right handed pull than the incorrect push stroke with the right hand).
Here is a great You Tube to see the proper method of cutting for a right-hander using a right-handed knife:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCaRqvoL6Lc
Especially note from 0.35 seconds to 1:55 seconds.
Note that he achieves the flat cut with a single stroke and that there is no corrective cutting when he grips the rootstock or scion in his left hand (stationary near his chest) and draws to knife across his chest to the right with his right hand.
You do see a push stroke with his right hand on scions. That cut is not part of the whip and tongue. He is merely using his knife with that quick push stroke to cut excess scion wood after he has selected the section of scion he will use that has two buds above where he made the long slanting cut for matching scion to rootstock. Most of us would use hand pruners to make that cut, but since he has such a sharp knife he just uses a simple push stroke to cut off the excess scion material.