The Omega Grafting Tool

[Tim]

After a conversation with Stephen he suggested I write up a review of the Omega Grafting Tool so here it is.

 

I thought I would share my experience with the Omega Grafting Tool, supposedly the easy way to graft all sorts of plants including Apple Trees, do not believe all you read in advertisements.

The Omega Grafting Tool

I ordered my Omega Grafting Tool from ebay thinking it would be just the thing I needed to graft two unknown apples onto MM106 rootstock, I thought it would be an easier solution to grafting with a knife as I had never attempted this before, how wrong I was.

I ordered some rootstock from F. P. Matthews Ltd, some grafting wax and whilst waiting for delivery collected my scions from the two unknown trees, these were heeled in quite deeply to prevent drying out. The wax and rootstock arrived and off I went to the shed to perform the bench grafting experiment, grafting tool in hand I followed the instructions to the letter, even though it was an obvious translation from Chinese it all seemed very simple, cut the scion and rootstock so the V lined up, sounds easy but it is not, it took me ages to get the cuts to line up, the slightest variation in thickness of the stock made for a poor alignment, on numerous occasions the stock remained stuck in the grafting tool and had to be pulled free at times this pulled the bark as well, thinking the rest must be easy I attempted to bind the graft using electrical tape, the graft was awkward and still felt loose even after pulling the tape nice and tight, realising the only choice I had was to finish the experiment I waxed the grafts and planted them in a small plot I had previously prepared, only time will tell if it was a successful experiment but I am not holding my breath.

Grafting Knife

I have concluded that there is only one truly successful way of grafting fruit trees and that is to buy yourself a good quality stainless steel knife and practice again and again with a large pile of Willow cuttings until you have the art mastered, not only is it going to be easier it will also be a hell of a lot cheaper.

http://www.marshwoodvalecider.com/?page_id=205

Tim in Dorset

 

 

[Melanie Wilson]

Thanks for writing that up Tim. Sorry it didn't work out for you. Personally I use a stanley knife over a grafting knife as I didn't like the need to cut towards you taught with the grafting knife. i don't use much specially created for grafting, prefering masking tape to  grafting tape & making my own wax. I do find lac balsam worth using for stome fruits (which is OT for here !)   Mel   Mel --- On Sat, 12/2/11, Tim <t...@marshwoodvalecider.com> wrote:

The Omega Grafting Tool

Grafting Knife

http://www.marshwoodvalecider.com/?page_id=205 Tim in Dorset     -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cider Workshop" group. To post to this group, send email to cider-w...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cider-worksho...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cider-workshop?hl=en.

 

[Dave]

>
> I have concluded that there is only one truly successful way of grafting
> fruit trees and that is to buy yourself a good quality stainless steel knife
> and practice again and again with a large pile of Willow cuttings until you
> have the art mastered, not only is it going to be easier it will also be a
> hell of a lot cheaper.

I concluded that a long time ago too.
My grafting knife is pretty much as the pic but the blade is a lot
narrower now.
They should be completely flat on one side and that side should never
be sharpened. Only sharpen the other side and finish off with a
leather strop. I usually use my jeans instead of a strop but it
doesn't do them much good.
The flat side is the side that should be against the cut.