ace:

Thanks for the heads up. I ordered one from Amazon. It was the last one on sale for $4. The fancy ones are 10 to 15 times that. Figured I could go too far wrong.

Ace,
A decent grafting knife is really not all that expensive.
I've got a little folding Victorinox double-bladed grafting/budding knife that I've been using for nearly 15 years - still just as good as the day I got it.
You can buy one just like it for under $25, and I've also got a single-blade model that I bought as a backup after I misplaced my original for a year or so - you can get that one for less than $15.
I've used utility knives, but just never could get the smooth, straight cuts I can with my grafting knife. That's OK if you're grafting apples/pears - with them, all you have to do is get scion and rootstock in the same room together, and you're almost assured of success, but with nut trees, I need more precision.

Lucky if you can keep a blade razor sharp for 15 years god bless.

Really not hard to do - I've got a good fine-grade whetstone - probably been in use longer than I've been walking, and a few passes across the stone bring the blade right back to a degree of sharpness that's totally adequate to cut scions - and myself, from time to time.
Easier to sharpen a grafting knife than a typical pocket or kitchen knife, 'cause they're only beveled on one side.

Some are better than others. I've used the Victorinox knives all of my career, but bought a single-blade budding knife at an auction a couple of years back - I'd have to look at it - I think it was German-made; a piece of crap - soft metal, doesn't cut straight, requires frequent sharpening. I keep it in the kit just in case I lose my primary tool.

Sounds good I think I will get a Victorianox grafting knife to try and have a back up. I haven't nicked myself doing two hundred grafts this season with the Stanley 10-049 I hope I will be as skilled with the Victorianox. I'm going to have to buy a whetstone. I could never get a factory edge back on a pocket knife but you say the Victorianox will hold an edge. My $7 Stanley 10-049 is still razor sharp and untarnished the replacement blade is $2.50.

My brother sent me a smallish piece of white stone which I believe was a by product of some kind of manufacturing procedure- does silicon carbide ring a bell? Anyhow, it is similar to those ceramic sticks sold for sharpening, but flat and probably finer. I use it wet to touch up my pocket knife and my good (Japanese laminated) cooking knives, and they stay sharp without wearing down much steel. Once the blades are sharp that's the only thing they need to stay sharp. If you come across one of those grab it. It'll never wear out.

But I often use the utility knife for my little bit of grafting just because the blade is small and sharp. I've made a blade out of bandsaw scrap that I think will be good but I don't have it hefted yet. I wanted to use that this year.

M

I have had the single blade Victorinox for twenty years using it only for grafting and has never needed sharpening. Costco recently had a three knife Victorinox package for $16, about what I paid for the one I have. No budding knife in the package of course, but a great pocket knife of the same great quality, and perfectly usable for grafting. Al