Chinese grafting tools

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mbc

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Are you supposed to lift the larvae on the flexible tongue and push it off with the harder bit or are you supposed to lift it with the hard bit and slide it off with the flexible tongue ?
 
Extend the flexible bit and slip it under the larva and push off with the hard bit without rolling the larva. Easiest I find if you break down a bit of the cell side wall first. I had better success with this tool than the metal grafting tool. Might try a paint brush this year.
 
Mine have a fixed flexible piece and the solid bit attached to the plunger
 
Ok then set the tool up so that at full extention the hard bit and the flexible bit are the same length. Retract the hard bit so you have max flexible bit available to get under the larva then push off with the hard bit.
 
dclewis said:
Extend the flexible bit and slip it under the larva and push off with the hard bit without rolling the larva.
Click to expand...

Better to consider that the plunger holds the larva in the desired place whilst you pull the tongue out from under it. Sounds back-to-front and takes some concentration to get it right.

No tool has a great effect on success rates; it's more about choice of grafting material and skill of transfer, plus of course the state of the colony you're grafting into. A couple of seasons back I ran frames with three cell bars and grafted each in turn with brush, chinese, and dental tools. Acceptance rates were identical once I'd learnt the technique of each tool.
 
DanBee said:
Better to consider that the plunger holds the larva in the desired place whilst you pull the tongue out from under it. Sounds back-to-front and takes some concentration to get it right.

No tool has a great effect on success rates; it's more about choice of grafting material and skill of transfer, plus of course the state of the colony you're grafting into. A couple of seasons back I ran frames with three cell bars and grafted each in turn with brush, chinese, and dental tools. Acceptance rates were identical once I'd learnt the technique of each tool.
Click to expand...

On the few occasions I have used the Chinese grafting tool, the way DanBee has described it is exactly as I was shown and then learnt to used it, holding the plunger still and letting the rest of the tool move, takes a while to get used to it but I prefer it to using a brush or the dental type tool.
 
DanBee said:
Better to consider that the plunger holds the larva in the desired place whilst you pull the tongue out from under it. Sounds back-to-front and takes some concentration to get it right.
Click to expand...

That's what I was taught.

To be honest though I prefer to wet-graft with a fine sable paintbrush.
 
.
I take a wooden stick from bush and I sharpen the tip with knife. 5 steps and I have a new clean stick.
 
"To be honest though I prefer to wet-graft with a fine sable paintbrush."

some might suggest that it's the addition of delicate lady's spittle that is key to success.
 
drstitson said:
that is key to success.
Click to expand...

´To graft larvae is an easy job. It does not need "success".

here you have grafting tools to rest of your life. You twist a littel the tip to hook and so it plays.

870145.jpg
 
Last edited:
I don't like to tear down the comb unnecessarily, so any of the straight tools (brush, chinese, twig) end up with me trying to look through my hand at the larva I'm picking up.

For that reason I prefer this:

swiisgraftdeluxsmallsblck.jpg


The cranked handle means that my hand is well out of the way :) Talk nicely to your dentist as he may be throwing something like this away...

Beware the cheap plastic variants, for they are indeed rubbish:

M00652.jpg


I do appreciate Finman's economy selection, and have used shaped matches along very similar lines when necessary.
 
I will never use a chinese grafting tool again, I used one when I started grafting ** years ago and it was hopeless, the Larvae got rolled between the hard secion and the soft section when lowering it into cell cups, HM recommended the sable paintbrush and they work great, easy to sterilise and do not get blown away when grafting on the L/Rover bonnet( Land Rover Bonnet to wing set the frame at just the right angle to graft and loads of natural light)
 
I don't cut the comb sides ever and find slipping the end of the right sort of paintbrush....they vary ridiculously and an 00 in one brand is as fine as a 000 in another works well - probably because it isn't straight, just the right amount of flex :)...and going on from beebreeder, they work well eg. sat on the back of a car, in an orchard, on the tailgate of a pick-up, sat on a milk crate or with frame on the front of a tractor. As well as a very posh BKA clubroom.
 
I tried the chinese type and didn't like it. My previous tool got lost in the grass - never to be seen again. A brush seems to work ok. AND some poundland glasses.
 
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