Hello Peter and Everyone,

Like Peter I think grafting is so much easier than the non-grafting
methods. With a Chinese grafting tool the larva don't have to really be
seen to be lifted.

To select a larva, I get a good look at them with my hiking headlamp and
a cheap plastic magnifying visor as I need my regular glasses.

With the tool in your right hand just slide it down against the
bottom-right cell wall until it bottoms out. Give it a very slight twist
between the fingers and remove it with the larva and the majority of
royal jelly scooped up.

Now if you are JZ BZ plastic cell cups the task is even easier. If you
are grafting just a few cells they can be placed directly on a comb and a
grafting frame with cell bars is not needed. I like to coat my plastic
cell cups with a very thin layer of bees wax.

Just put the larva in the bottom of the cell and gently extract and
retreat the tip, kind of keeping the larva in the same location and
removing the tool rather than pushing her off the tip with the extractor.

Some of the tips are rather stiff and blunt which doesn't matter too much
if your grafting out of old, black comb. If you prefer a different feel
or are grafting out of newer comb, the tip can be thinned and reshaped by
sanding with 400 grit sandpaper.

Grafting is soooo easy. If a trifocaled, asigmated fellow like me can do
it anybody can. If you get a Chinese tool, some kind of magnification and
some plastic cell cups you can teach yourself to graft the larva faster
than I can type this post.

Best Wishes
Dennis