Bypass secateurs need to be sharp and scrubbed clean with steel wool. The Felco 6 (smaller) is my choice and can be disassembled for maintenance. There are two types of knife blades that I use – a single bevel and a double bevel. Single bevel knives taper from the back of the blade to the cutting edge only on one side, the other is flat so that the cut will always deepen. A double bevel will taper equally on both sides to the cutting edge, giving the more skilled operator the option.
My most frequently used blade in this type of grafting is one of a good quality stainless steel so it does not rust (lower grade “SS” can rust) and stays sharp longer, is as thin as possible and about an 8 cm long blade, 12 mm wide and the cutting edge is straight to the tip. The longer blade means different portions of the blade can be used for consecutive cuts before needing to be sterilized. Another I use for the rind graft has a shorter blade, longer handle and a double taper. Scalpel blades tend to break in thicker wood and rust, as do snap off paper knives. I work with one single bevel, two double bevel longer blades and two double bevel short blade, two secateurs, a bark lifter that I constructed from a piece of 2 mm aluminium and two small wood carver U-shaped chisels of two sizes: 7 mm and 3 mm.
All tools should be as sharp as you can get them and maintained that way. I try to get a polished surface (it tears the face of the cut less) using the finest sharpening stone as possible (e.g., shaving hair off the forearm). Diamond sharpeners and waterstones are excellent but expensive, however a cheap oilstone is just that. It is essential to have three grades of sharpeners – extra fine, fine and medium, but to reduce costs, fine water paper can be used quite adequately. YouTube is full of knife sharpening videos.
My work bench (L- shaped) is of a kitchen type surface with a small piece of thick plastic chopping board turned on its edge, braced and clamped as a cutting surface. When the chopping board gets too scored by the knives, it can be re-faced with a carpenters’ plane. A swivel chair with a backrest and on castors with soft music helps the workday.
Plastic kitchen
chopping board
upended and
clamped
Note that the forefinger of the left hand is braced on the back of the chopping board while the thumb and forefinger grip the scion. This means there will be no movement of the scion when the right hand pushes the knife blade. By keeping both elbows close to the body, even braced against the body will give a much greater control. If the scion is hard and the knife blunt, the cut can be helped by leaning the body through the direction of the cut rather than using the forearms to push the cut.