Review on Garden Grafting Tool Kit With Pruner, Tapes, Tree Tags, And Rubber Bands - Ideal For Cutting Scissors, Twig, Vine, And Fruit Trees by Matt Schwartz

I'm new to grafting. I picked up two of the kits, one for me, and one for my brother. My brother occasionally grafts new scion wood onto his apples and pears for fun, and said the tool worked well and definitely would stop him from slicing himself again with his grafting knife, which has happened on chilly raw days.I used the grafting tool to in effect whip-graft graft a couple persimmons and twenty plum rootstocks ordered from a nursery using scion wood collected from several pluots and two gage plums. The tool works by producing nearly perfectly mirrored cuts in the rootstock and scion wood. The two pieces only fit together properly one way due to the cutting action, which makes the union quite good. The included grafting tape works great too and enough is included to make quite a large number of grafts. Now I need to wait and see how many of the 25 or so grafts I've made will take. I discovered when doing my research that plums aren't easy to whip graft. Oh well.One cautionary note: When making the cuts, the tool did occasionally crush rather than cut: this seems to be the result of the tool's position relative to the buds on the rootstock or scion wood I was using. You may not experience the problem. A half turn of the wood fixed the issue.How the tool could be improved: 1. The rotatable orange plastic "flower" that the cutter cuts into and which can be rotated to expose new surfaces is not easy to adjust--the included screwdriver is not up to the task. 2. The included instructions are minimal and appear on the box that the kit comes in. If you are new to grafting like I was, you will need more detailed instructions than the box provides. 3. The safety lock is a flimsy bit of plastic that isn't easy to use with cold fingers.A last tip: Note how the tool works before changing cutting plates. When you remove the installed plate, the alignment may shift and you will need to readjust it before a new plate can be put back in.