We will have grafting knives for you to use at the April 15th grafting workshop. A grafting knife is beveled on only one side to make it easier to make a controlled cut.
Some of you probably already have a grafting knife for the workshop. If you don't already have one, and have been thinking about getting one because you are getting more serious about grafting, let me suggest that you consider the Tina T685 (if you are a right hander - that is, you hold the knife with your right hand). There is a different knife (the Tina 605L, beveled the other way) if you hold the knife with the left hand. In the next paragraph is the reason for my endorsement of the Tina T685.
While Bob Pervis was here for the pruning workshop in late February 2014 we did a little grafting because I wanted to see his chip budding technique which he planned to cover in the 2014 grafting class. He had his Tina T685 knife (German made) and I had my Victorinox (Swiss made, and half as expensive). Bob sharpened both using his usual technique (he's grafted in the vicinity of 15,000 trees so he has a lot of experience sharpening grafting knives). He showed me the technique for making whip and tongue cuts (the big challenge for a grafting knife) and I copied what he did. Our results seemed similar. Then I asked if I could make some cuts using both knives to see how they compared. I was surprised at how much easier the cuts were (much more control) using the Tina. During the grafting workshop a few weeks later I used my Victorinox most of the time and used Bob's Tina when no one else was using it.
A couple of weeks ago I thought I would see about getting a Tina for myself for this year's workshop coming up on April 15th. I found quite a price range for the Tina T685. At this point it looks like CSPOutdoors.com has the best price at $38.25 plus $3.22 shipping. We are not requiring the Tina but just making it easier for you consider it and find it in time for the workshop if you haven't already acquired a grafting knife. If you find a better price on the Tina T685 can you let the rest of us know. Thanks.