# General beekeeping > Queen raising >  Great grafting tools of our time

## Paul_

I've been grafting queens for the last few years with a Chinese tool.

I'm not an awesome grafter but with a take rate of 60% to 70% I do ok enough to make enough decent queens.

Maybe I buy awful cheap tools or they are just fragile but I do find the tools fall apart after a while. It is winter, that well known time when beekeepers buy crap they don't need from the Internet.

My question is - what another tool would people recommend, just so I can play with it next year.

Thanks in advance.

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## Pete L

Try a small sable artists paint brush, 00 or 000.

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## fatshark

What he says ... and make a simple sleeve of plastic tubing to protect the bristles from getting squidged. Or, assuming you don’t buy ‘crap’ it should be supplied with a protective sleeve.

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## fatshark

What he says ... and make a simple sleeve of plastic tubing to protect the bristles from getting squidged. Or, assuming you dont buy crap it should be supplied with a protective sleeve.

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## Paul_

> What he says ... and make a simple sleeve of plastic tubing to protect the bristles from getting squidged. Or, assuming you don’t buy ‘crap’ it should be supplied with a protective sleeve.


Never having used one, how does the larva come off the bristles?

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## fatshark

Wet the bristles (saliva is fine)
Slide it underneath the larva
Lift and separate
Place the paintbrush and larva in the grafting cup, touching the base
Gently rotate the paintbrush to transfer it to the base of the cup
Rinse and repeat

All made easier with good lighting and eyesight - head torch and reading specs for me.

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## drumgerry

I couldn't really graft properly until I got the left handed Swiss grafting tool.  They come in a rightie version as well.  Maybe Swienty is the place to get them nowadays but there used to be a guy in England sold queen rearing stuff but he packed in a few years back.

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## madasafish

http://beeequipped.co.uk/component/o...d,8/Itemid,29/

https://www.thorne.co.uk/queen/grafting-tools

gives some choice

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## Adam

I used to have a plastic grafting tool but lost it in the grass. I've tried a Chinese tool but have never got on with it so I use a small paint brush. I normally have a couple - in case of loss as they are so easy to put down and then not find again until the lawnmower finds them. However exactly as Fatshark states except I don't rinse - just a suck on the brush before I put my veil on.

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