The essentials are a knife, raffia and the wax heater with brush. A saw is necessary if stocks are to be cut back, and pruning shears are convenient for cutting scions into proper lengths and for trimming and pruning stocks. The knife most used is the grafting knife of Maher & Gross, with a three inch straight blade and a round handle that gives a good grasp.
I used to suspect that the men who said that scions ought to be cut with two strokes of the knife were trying to establish an unattainable ideal. But after Mr. Jones and Dr. Morris had taught me how to sharpen my knife I found that I could cut one that way myself sometimes. Mr. Jones's method of sharpening is to hone the knife flat on the surface next the scion and with a bevel on the upper edge. I found that this made scion cutting so much easier that I thought it was the whole secret. But one day I saw another doubter come up to Mr. Jones and ask him if it was true that he could cut a scion with two strokes of the knife. Mr. Jones said he thought he could but he had no knife just then. The man pulled out his pocket knife and asked if that would do. Mr. Jones looked at it, took a stick and with two strokes cut a perfect scion. Since then I have felt that there is something to it besides the way you sharpen your knife.
A very important element in shaping scions is to give a drawing motion to the knife by keeping the handle well advanced before the blade. The cutting is done with a draw and not a push. This is one of the most important factors for success in shaping scions.
It seems hardly necessary to say that the stroke of the knife should be away from the grafter. Yet it is a common sight to see beginners cutting to the thumb.
Dr. Morris showed me that if, in sharpening your knife, you hold the little whetstone between the thumb and middle finger of the left hand you are less likely to put a feather edge on it. A feather edge is something to clip the sprouting wings of any budding saint of a grafter. When you get the right edge on your knife often you can use it the whole day without resharpening, or at most with simply a stropping on a piece of wood or leather. But improper use of the knife, or the least knick, will spoil the edge and sometimes it will be quite difficult to get it back. Therefore the blade should always be protected by a sheath, never laid down or used for cutting raffia, or anything but the actual cutting of the graft. For this purpose a leather sheath worn on the front of the belt, as first used by Dr. Morris, is almost a necessity. This sheath may be made by any leather worker and should have at least two pockets, one for the grafting knife and one for another knife to be used for trimming, cutting raffia and other odd things. It is convenient to have a little pocket for a pencil also and one may provide places for other articles of equipment at fancy.
I do not know that there is much to be said here about raffia. But a great deal has been said, and will be said, elsewhere, when the raffia is rotten and breaks in the middle of tying a graft. It is the devil's own stuff to carry when you don't carry it right. The right way to carry it is to tuck one end of the bundle under one side of your belt, pass the bundle behind your back and the other end under the other side of your belt. Then the raffia never gets mixed up with scions, tools and profanity and the end of a strand is as handy as the knives in your belt. On the whole I do not know of any binding material as satisfactory as raffia. It is stronger and easier to use when it is damp.
One of the great advances in the art of grafting is the use of melted wax. I believe that we have to credit Mr. Jones for this. The use of paraffine for grafting wax we owe to Dr. Morris. To him also we owe the Merribrook melter which has added so much to the comfort and convenience of grafting that it can be recommended as an outdoor sport for ladies. I do not like the brush that Dr. Morris recommends but prefer a stiffer one such as can be bought for ten cents.
Equipments vary with the individual and with the difference in the work to be done. Mr. Slaughter carries into the nursery, when he is working for Mr. Jones in the semi-tropical sun of Lancaster, a stool with parasol attachment. Mr. Biederman of Arizona has the most elaborate equipment which includes a table, planes, curved knives and gouges. Dr. Morris carries a knapsack. I like an ordinary light market basket that Mother Earth holds up for me when I'm not moving from place to place. When in a tree I stuff my pockets with scions.
A saw is usually a necessity. For portability I prefer a curved one that has a draw cut. It has also an aesthetic element and doesn't look like a meat saw, which can't be said of Mr. Jones's saw that seduced Dr. Morris from church. For heavy and steady work I much prefer a carpenter's sharp hand saw. A two-edged saw is an abomination devised by conscienceless manufacturers for the seduction of innocent amateurs.
For pruning shears I have a personal fancy for the French, hand-made instrument, each one individual, a work of art and a potential legacy to one's horticultural heir, if one doesn't let the village blacksmith monkey with it, as I did with mine.