The bark lifter on the back of the primary blade is good for lifting barks on citrus T-buds. I still use the other true bark lifter on the other end of the knife because that one can open larger barks.

The fixed blade are way stronger when making clefts and splices.

I use the Victorinox with two folding blades (one blade is primary with a bump on the back, and the other end a bronze type dull blade bark lifter) for 6 years now and have never sharpened it, still as sharp as when first bought. Have used on on several thousand grafts already.

I love to use the Tina fixed blade grafting knife that I borrowed, makes easier but sharper and finer cuts than my victorinox.

But practically I seldom have graft faikures even if I use just kitchen knives now, as long as they are very sharp, so I just stuck with what I have, the Victorinox knife.

Fpr softer things (apple, cherimoya, etc) you can use an exacto knife, and replace the blade when it gets dull. For the harder woods (osage orange, che, etc), I got a Victorinox.

Same here...these are my tools of the trade, for apple, cherries, plum, pear etc.
You need a blade, that is allways razor sharp.
Konrad

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The blades with a bark lifter on the back side are almost always "budding blades," meaning that the cutting surface is curved into an elongated "s" shape. On the other hand, a "grafting" blade will generally have a perfectly straight cutting surface. Because it's easier to sharpen, I much prefer the straight-edged grafting blade. Also I've never found the bark lifter to be very useful; it's easy to learn to lift the flaps of bark with the point of the blade, and that saves the labor of turning the blade over every time, so a bark lifter is really not needed.

While almost any blade can be used for grafting, as long as it's very sharp, I do think there is an advantage in a properly sharpened grafting blade, in that it is honed only on one side. It has a flat (unhoned) side and a beveled (honed) side. If you are holding it in the correct hand, sharp edge facing you, the beveled side will be facing up. Then as you pull the blade through the wood you're working on, the part you're cutting away curls up, away from the knife, while the underside slides smoothly over the remaining part of the stick. A blade honed on both sides will be somewhat less easy to cut straight and cleanly, but certainly it can be done and many people do it. Because of the one-sided sharpening, true grafting (and budding) knives come in left- and right-handed models. Being a lefty, that limits me in what models I can find available, since not everyone makes a lefty model. For the last 30 years, I've been using Tina left-handed models, and have been very happy with them, although they are pricey.

Like Malcom I am a religious knife sharpener and insist on a blade honed on only one side. I lost my Victorinox early this year and before my replacement came I tried all sorts of knives and made lots of bad cuts. Also I find it possible to make much more precise cuts with a sharp knife, less pressure is needed so more accuracy is possible. Obviously its not the most critical thing in the world if people such as Joe are doing fine without sharpening. Konrad, your knife is the kind with the break-off blades, and I believe those are honed on only one side so should work well. The boxcutter I tried a few weeks ago was honed on both sides and was impossible to make a decent cut with.

Scott

Thanks. For the input guys. Keep it coming.

I've tried some splice grafts with a boxcutter like Konrad's and it seemed to kinda work. It was a lot better than the Henkel's paring knife and the global 6" knife I tried. Both were pretty sharp.

I still had a difficult time getting a flat taper any longer than 3/4" or so. I would find myself making a concave or have other problems. I've never seen grafting in person (other than doing it myself.

I did get the Grafter's Handbook on the recommendation of somebody here. It's funny, often times I can't figure out at all what they are talking about by the description of a a type of graft until I see the picture.

My girlfriend and others thought I was pretty nuts reading this book on my Jamaican vacation last week.

Scott: I have indicated in my post as long as it is "Sharp". Do I need to sharpen an already sharp knife? My comment for not sharpening my Victorinox knife is meant as a PRAISE and APPRECIATION for the manufacturer of the specific model (forgot the exact one) of my budding knife where they have used some metal composites that could remain sharp for ages. My Victorinox is sharp, and there is absolutely no logic for me to sharpen further a very sharp knife for the sake of making sure it is sharp. Not all knives are made of these expensive materials. This is how I had hoped you would interpret my comments, sorry for the wrong combinations of words to form my statements.

Joe, the reason for my comment was I have the same brand of knife and mine needs sharpening after 20 or so grafts. So my conclusion was that your standard of sharp and mine are different, I can't think of any other reason. I have thirty years of fine woodworking experience and like my knives extremely sharp, out of habit if nothing else.

Scott

Do you guys suppose the following knife is sharpened/beveled on only one side? It has two blades. One with a straight tip and one curved. I emailed Victorinox but didn't get a clear answer.

I'm assuming that the tool that Joe and Scott are talking about looks like this one on the curved end, and has a bark lifter on the other.

The "bark lifter" I was refering to in the original message is the protrusion on the back of the black with the curved tip. I've since seen that blade in person which answered some of my original question. Its kinda sharp but not real dangerous with the blade closed.

Victorinox Swiss Army Grafter Garden Tool

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Any idea what angle should be used to sharpen to?

Here is a link that might be useful: victorinox at Amazon

The curved blade is beveled on one side only -- my knife has the exact same blade. Note that this is a right-handed knife. I don't have the other blade on my knife but it looks like a wedge. Sharpen EXACTLY at the angle the bevel is at when you buy it -- 30 degrees or so. On the other side you need to put it COMPLETELY FLAT on the stone, don't put ANY angle on it or you just ruined your nice new knife. It may seem odd to do this since you are honing the whole side of the knife, but thats the key. You do most of the sharpening work on the beveled side, then sharpen the whole other side to take the burrs off the edge.

Scott

Thanks Scott,

I have a Gatko, Lansky-type sharpening system in which the stones have guide rods.

I had the victorinox knife, but I lost it, and I'm debating whether to buy a replacement.

I bought one of these, it arrived very dull and was sharpened on both sides. I got it in my mind to try to grind it down on one side until the other side is flat. I think the biggest angle on my "system" is 22 degrees so that's what I started doing.

I wasn't sure what to do on the "flat" side that will develop the burr.
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When using a "right handed" knife in my right hand I should be pulling the blade towards my body, correct?

Murky I also have a Lansky system but I don't use it on my grafting knife. In fact I only use it on serrated knives now, I have better luck with a good diamond stone on all other knife types. For a beveled knife you don't need any guides, just use feel to keep the bevel directly flat on the stone as you run it across. Rock it back and forth to find the right spot if in doubt. It takes a bit of experience to master, but is not that hard. Or use the guided system, it should work OK once you do a big initial hone to reset the knife's bevel angle to what your guides are set to. For the flat honing part a simple stone is the only way to go.

I had a single-bevel knife that was mistakenly sharpened on the side that should have been flat and I took a coarse diamond stone and in about 10 minutes had it back to completely flat on that side. It depends how much they took off the non-beveled side, if its a lot you may be better off getting a new knife.

Yes, the right vs left is for cuts toward you where the wood to "save" is on the bottom of the blade and the wood to "discard" is going over the top. This saves a flat cut.

Scott

Stanley razor knife. Always "razor" sharp. Also great for skinning out carcasses!

Thanks scott, I really appreciate the coaching.

If I understand you correctly, the 10 minute operation you were refering to was to take the entire flat face plane of the "flat" side down until the bevel on that side is gone. This makes the thickness of the whole blade skinnier. Correct?

Isn't another way to get rid of the bevel on the flat side to grind the "beveled" side down at the desired bevel angle until the bevel on the "flat" side is gone? Wouldn't that preserve more of the blade's thickness?

Do you have a link to the type of coarse diamond stone you'd recommend? Are we talking $30?

I have no freehand skills, but at this point I'm probably willing to spend more time and money than its worth for the pleasure of finally having a really sharp knife.

I used to think that grafting would be too difficult and I started with one of those Omega grafting tools. It turned out to not be so hard and now I'm confident doing it by hand. I'm sure sharpening is similar.

Correct on making the blade thinner and that you could do it the other way. A long time ago I had another knife really ruined like this and I took it all off from the beveled side and ended up with a noticeably narrower knife. So, it can be done from either side (or both) depending on the angle of the "damage" and how severe it is.

Just about any diamond stone I have seen is good. You can get by with a smaller one if you want to save $$. The one I got is below (I also have the fine one), looks like $23 at Amazon.

I really enjoy sharpening knives the "craftsman" way just with a stone I have to say, its an art form. Because of this I probably keep my grafting knife sharper than I even need to. But my wife sure appreciates all the sharp knives in the kitchen!

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: Diamond Stone