There was a topic on this tool last week which showed this tool that was purchased from a fellow member. Looked good to me so i bought the same one. The tool its self is well made for the money. 20 dollers was the cost so i figured it would be kind of cheap. Surprisingly nicly made eady to use. Very sharp blades. No bruising or damage to cutting. Here a few pics. Look close to the pic of cutting put back together after being cut. Nice fit. Will post pics of a real graft after rain stops. Richie

That does look pretty clean . Nice fit...... Tks for posting it...

My wife bought me one for Christmas I,m anxious for the weather to warm up so I can try it

That is very nice and clean indeed. Got me interested in purchasing that one as well... will have to think about this now, more projects for the summer... thanks for sharing.

Thanks for feedback guys.

I made the original post. I have been doing practice cuts with mine, use a small crescent wrench or calipers to match size and you will not find a tighter fit anywhere.

It does look like a quality graft but the proof is in the pudding.  Ritchie and others who use one of these tools, please keep us updated.

[QUOTE=palazzophoto]I made the original post. I have been doing practice cuts with mine, use a small crescent wrench or calipers to match size and you will not find a tighter fit anywhere.[/QUOTE]

Wow. Grate idea. I am a retired gear box mechanic
so i have all my calipers. That is a grate idea. Thanks for chiming in. Couldnt remember your name from original post. But thanks for that i love this tool. Very well made i bought mine from same seller you got yours.

Pellazophoto. Took your advice and used a caliper to match the cutting to motger tree it was getting dark so did a rush job. But as you can see in photo. Very nice clean job. This tool is fun to use. You have to look were the blade is setting on cutting before cutting it. Line it up in middle. Depending on size of stock you have to postion it properly in the middle. this is a lsu st Gabriel black fig to a ischia. I put grafting tape over the zip tie. This was not the proper way to do this. Was getting,dark outside and wanted to post some pics of the joining area fit.

Cool stuff Richard. I got the exact one from Amazon for $17 plus a roll of grafting tape. I will be doing a bunch of grafting this weekend! Thanks for sharing and good luck with your grafting.

Wow, very nice!  I did not realize they could be that inexpensive.  I will be grafting in a couple weeks and have one on order, thanks for sharing!

Yes they are really fun to play with for sure. Cant wait to see my first graft make a bud!!!!

  Мне нравится делать прививки нож - омега. У них прививки 2 лет.

nice job Richard. i hope you used grafting tape like you said or it will not take.
the union needs to be air and water tight.


ChrisK i think its early for you to do it.
you need to have the tree pushing buds open and then you graft.
if its a potted plant make sure you have watered it well the day before.
the graft must be out of sun until it takes.

good luck to all who try it. make sure you use the omega or the U cutter not the V.
the V is for much softer wood.

  Here is a compound with a knife omega.

All the grafts shown look great.  Please keep us informed on their progress.  If they take this would certainly be a handy tool to pick up.

Андреас ,    that's a good job. Grafting on persimmon in 2013.

Vladis, your tree looks like it's covered in scale.  I'd get that off ASAP.
Suzi

Vladis
all 3 of your pictures look awesome!!!
did you do all 3 with this tool?

Сегодня я также остановить хурма этого инструмента. Фото привиты инжир Panachee   в 2013 году.

any updates on these grafts and tool?

I haven't done any grafting before, but my grandpa was very into it.  Are you grafting cuttings right onto live trees?

I didn't get any omega ones with mine. Just v shaped ones. :(

Where did you guys purchase theses cutting tools?

  Mine included the Omega and both 'U' and 'V' blades for $20 with free shipping from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R8X5PWK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

This is amazing, very cool!

Nice, Richie! Thx for the link, Blue!

[QUOTE=Smyfigs]
Thx for the link, Blue!
[/QUOTE]

Anything for you, Meg!  LOL!!

Interesting post.  When is the best time to graft on outdoor trees for zone 7?

Richie and others who have used this omega tool - what was your take rate on grafts?  Someone told me that these tools damage the cambium and don't work very well but others have said the opposite.  So far my skill at conventional grafting is apparently not very good so I'm seriously thinking about buying one of these.

Rewton,

Just my two cents. The blades on these tools are not very sharp, they get dull quite quickly and are very difficult to sharpen again. That causes a quite high percentage of failure because of irregular margins. I bought one of these tools 3 years ago and used it a a few times. I never used it again.
If the wood is hard it's quite difficult to get a good clean cut (it may work better with fig trees that are usually softer). But even in soft wood like kiwi, the results were poor.
Another problem - the cuttings have to quite perfect. Just the right diameter and bent free or, in most cases, the tool will be almost useless. 

In my humble opinion is best to invest your time and money learning to graft and purchasing a good grafting knife.

In the first year the percentage of success is not very high, but soon you will get the hang of it. With time each new graft get's better and better and soon failure is the exception.

I started grafting 3 years ago and now grafting apples, pears, peaches, apricots, plums, kiwis, walnuts, etc, has become easy and the percentage of success if very high.

Last year i tried to graft fig trees for the first time and the accumulated experience payed off:

      

Jsacadura,this tool can not be used for grafting kiwi. The rest of the culture grafted normal. See my photos posted earlier.

I've been using the same tool that Blue posted about, so far so good. The caliper and general shape of the joining ends really do need to be about the same, otherwise it's an awkward fit. I've used it for Asian pear, apple, pomegranate, persimmon, and of course, figs. Used Parafilm to wrap the graft, and electrical tape over that to prevent light-mediated degradation of the Parafilm. It's too early to tell whether they worked or not, but for most the unions looked really good and I didn't notice too much damage to the cambium layer from dull cuts. 

To hedge my bets, I also did some bud grafts of most varieties. Just in case. :) I have backup grafting material in the fridge too, since I know it's still pretty early but some of the trees seem to be waking up early and I couldn't resist trying some. 

Vladis,

It depends on the maturity of the branch. Older kiwi branches are harder and the tool cuts them like it would cut a vine.
I have no doubt that good grafts can result from the use of this kind of tool, like your photos prove. I just don't think that they are worth it in the long run.

Mind you i have the same one that Richie (in the first message).
 
I think that are others in the market that have better construction and overall better results.
If i absolutely had to use one i would buy a better quality one, like this one:

 

[QUOTE=figpig_66]There was a topic on this tool last week which showed this tool that was purchased from a fellow member. Looked good to me so i bought the same one. The tool its self is well made for the money. 20 dollers was the cost so i figured it would be kind of cheap. Surprisingly nicly made eady to use. Very sharp blades. No bruising or damage to cutting. Here a few pics. Look close to the pic of cutting put back together after being cut. Nice fit. Will post pics of a real graft after rain stops. Richie[/QUOTE]~man that looks really good rich,i bet you will have all kinds of diff figs on one tree now ,lol,i want to get into grafting this summer ,new to me,do you recogmend the tool then i guess so ?~

Besides one of these grafting tools what are the other essentials needed to start grafting. I am going to get one of these from amazon but might as well get everything I need all at one time.

Dale

Dale, thats what I do is get it everything necessary. I believe you will want to get grafting tape and or wax. I havent grafted before but its what I have seen used.

Okay so, fig addiction + tools addiction = bad addiction!

Jsacadura ,tool below is considered to be a good and quality.

[QUOTE=Smyfigs]Okay so, fig addiction + tools addiction = bad addiction![/QUOTE]~i agree ,but i am going to try it tool or no tool , lol ~!~

I've had great success with mine on apple and cherry trees. Wrapped with paraffin paper and then sealed with tree tar. 

Frank, do you put any hormone solution on your grafts?