Grafting is considered an art, and in this case the artist’s tools are knives. Grafting knives have straight or curved blades and are thick or thin, depending on the work to be performed.
If you are involved in budding, use a small, straight, thin blade for accuracy. When scion grafting or wedge grafting, use a larger curved blade to cut through hard wood.
Knife blades can be fixed or folding. For convenience, choose a folding knife with two different blades.
A good combination grafting knife has two cutting blades, plus a stubby, dull, brass blade. The larger, heavier cutting blade is for slitting bark, and the dull blade is for opening and spreading the bark before inserting the scion graft into the stock.
For precise grafting, keep the blades clean and extremely sharp by using a fine whetstone.