I made a grafting knife!

[JoshuaTilaranCR]

I'm not sure where to post this, I don't think there's an off topic forum so I'll toss it here.

I'll start off by saying I love knives, I have a small collection of pocket knives and chef knives. I tried a high carbon steel knife one time and never went back to stainless. So one day I was in the pulpería (little store) here in my town when I saw a small putty knife and I had an idea. I saw it has a little rust on it so I knew it wasn't stainless. It cost me a whole 350 colones (about USD 55 cents). I brought it home and when I had a chance I took it to my stones. On the top I did a chisel grind and on the side I did a 50/50 grind which is normal on most all knives. I started on a coarse stone and finished on a 3000 grit and it came out pretty good! I've used it once to do a graft into a lemon tree i have in my front yard, I wanted to put my key lime on it and see how it does. Here are some shots, they're not great but you can get an idea.

[K-Rimes]

I like it. I too much prefer the grittiness of carbon steel knives. Lately I've been having good luck with a Opinel carbon knife for grafting, it zings right through the wood and also sharpens easily on the 5k

[JoshuaTilaranCR]

Yes! I bought a #6 Carbone for grafting small things and I made this for some bigger branches. For me carbon steel sharpens faster and easier and stays sharp longer. I can't stand picking up a stainless knife in the house or at the restaurant and having it be dull a couple days after it was sharpened.

I think I might make another one and do one whole side chisel and the other side 50/50 and leave the top alone.

[K-Rimes]

I would leave the top alone. Something I do now for technique is I put my index finger directly above the rootstock I'm slicing into and that way the knife can only cut in as deep as the blade. This avoids the ziiiiiiiippp right into your hand which is below holding the rootstock. I really need my fingers up top to help wiggle the knife and get it into the branch, I find using just the handle to be very difficult to get enough downward pressure.

Totally with you on picking up dull implements. I don't go more than a few weeks between sharpening my heaviest use kitchen knives. VG10 is the only stainless that holds an edge worth a damn but expensive and chips too easy. Would love to see your chef knife collection!

[JoshuaTilaranCR]

Here's my baby, Anryu blue #2 bunka. Soon after I bought this he retired so it makes it that much more special! This is tonight's dinner, leftovers fried rice.
 


At work I have a Korin Suisin 210mm gyuto which to me is probably the best knife I own. It gets used by everyone, cared for only by me and I went a whole year without touching it to a stone, just a steel and a strop. And it's easy to buy from Amazon. I also have a cheap white #2 santoku that's not great but I still use it and an ebay special blue #2 nakiri. I'll look for shots of those or take one tomorrow when we open up.

[Finca La Isla]

In Mexico, people with limited resources have been known to fashion a grafting blade from an old hack saw.  Pretty hard material.
Peter

[K-Rimes]

In Mexico, people with limited resources have been known to fashion a grafting blade from an old hack saw.  Pretty hard material.
Peter

Man that would suck to sharpen the teeth off of... It's very hard material indeed.

[JoshuaTilaranCR]

I have an old saw that I'd like to make a machete out of at some point. It's nice thin metal and I think it would be great for grasses and thin herbaceous plants.

[simon_grow]

There’s a lot of metals you can work with and there’s a pretty famous guy on the fig forum that makes the best custom grafting knives. I want to see if he can make me one with a Jaboticaba handle.

I got a belt sander for rough shaping my blades and then I use a 220/800/1000/6000 grit whet stone to finish shaping and sharpening. I’ll sometimes use a nagura stone and strop on leather with green compound. The knives get crazy sharp!

Simon

[K-Rimes]

There’s a lot of metals you can work with and there’s a pretty famous guy on the fig forum that makes the best custom grafting knives. I want to see if he can make me one with a Jaboticaba handle.

I got a belt sander for rough shaping my blades and then I use a 220/800/1000/6000 grit whet stone to finish shaping and sharpening. I’ll sometimes use a nagura stone and strop on leather with green compound. The knives get crazy sharp!

Simon

I have an old red jabo trunk I've been thinking of tossing on a lathe, probably about a 2.5" thickness in the middle... What's this guy's name?

[simon_grow]

I believe it’s Dave Serechio senior. Maybe try looking up hand made knives on Ourfigs. Let me know how it goes, I never got around to asking him but he did make one fir my friend. My friend is an expert grafter and swears by this guys knives. Better than the Tina knives.

Simon

[Finca La Isla]

I really like nice knives but most of my grafting is with soft, immature material.  My choice then has been surgical scalpels.  Not so sexy as the knives some are describing but pretty sharp.
Peter

[K-Rimes]

I really like nice knives but most of my grafting is with soft, immature material.  My choice then has been surgical scalpels.  Not so sexy as the knives some are describing but pretty sharp.
Peter

I was using disposable snap off box cutter blades but felt bad throwing so many away, they are deathly sharp when new. I wanted to have a little more panache so I switched to an opinel which, after hitting on the 5k stone is every bit as sharp as a razor blade.

[sapote]

In Mexico, people with limited resources have been known to fashion a grafting blade from an old hack saw.  Pretty hard material.
Peter

Man that would suck to sharpen the teeth off of... It's very hard material indeed.

Why? It has 2 edges so you can sharpen the the straight edge and leave the saw edge alone for sawing a metal tree. Beside, the saw edge is wavy so it's bad for making a straight graft cut on the scions.

[sapote]

So one day I was in the pulpería (little store) here in my town when I saw a small putty knife and I had an idea. I saw it has a little rust on it so I knew it wasn't stainless. It cost me a whole 350 colones (about USD 55 cents). I brought it home and when I had a chance I took it to my stones.

I like the idea. Is this thing made for left hander?

[sapote]

I was using disposable snap off box cutter blades but felt bad throwing so many away, they are deathly sharp when new.

Where did you dispose them? Recyclers will get cut sorting things out, landfill will have the wild dogs limping with wound feet.

[JoshuaTilaranCR]

I like the idea. Is this thing made for left hander?

I made it for myself and I'm right handed but I suppose you could make one for a lefty. I decided on the edge I wanted to sharpen by holding it in my hand and making a cutting motion to feel out what edge I would want to cut with. It's tilted one way and not perfectly straight so I chose the side that was tilted down, the one with less than a 90° angle.

[Victoria Ave]

I was using disposable snap off box cutter blades but felt bad throwing so many away, they are deathly sharp when new.

Where did you dispose them? Recyclers will get cut sorting things out, landfill will have the wild dogs limping with wound feet.

Sapote, the proper practice for this sort of thing is to have a sharps container. A glass jar or plastic bottle you put all your spent blades, needles and such then seal it with a top before disposal

[K-Rimes]

I was using disposable snap off box cutter blades but felt bad throwing so many away, they are deathly sharp when new.

Where did you dispose them? Recyclers will get cut sorting things out, landfill will have the wild dogs limping with wound feet.

As listed above, I put them in plastic jar and sealed the top and pitch it. Most landfills I've seen in the USA don't have wild dogs running around in them? In Canada, however, lots of bears, bald eagles, ravens, etc.

[ScottR]

I was using disposable snap off box cutter blades but felt bad throwing so many away, they are deathly sharp when new.

Where did you dispose them? Recyclers will get cut sorting things out, landfill will have the wild dogs limping with wound feet.

As listed above, I put them in plastic jar and sealed the top and pitch it. Most landfills I've seen in the USA don't have wild dogs running around in them? In Canada, however, lots of bears, bald eagles, ravens, etc.

Why not put in metal can and crush closed and recycle! To much trow away on this planet!

[K-Rimes]

I ended up just buying a carbon grafting knife that I sharpen on a whetstone so this probably is well behind me. It was the throw-away culture that I felt bad about with those exacto blades so I fixed it!

[sapote]

I like the idea. Is this thing made for left hander?

I made it for myself and I'm right handed but I suppose you could make one for a lefty. I decided on the edge I wanted to sharpen by holding it in my hand and making a cutting motion to feel out what edge I would want to cut with. It's tilted one way and not perfectly straight so I chose the side that was tilted down, the one with less than a 90° angle.

I think the mystery is solved: you pull the blade into your body to make a cut, not pushing out as I do.