There are a number of techniques outlined in some of the older grafting books where a scion is inserted on a sloping cut low on the primary trunk to initiate a new branch.

I can't tell you from memory if cherry was listed as a species amenable to the trick

You might be able to bud, but without cutting it back hard how are you going to get the dormant bud to push?...Fot that matter I assume heavy pruning is part of the technique I was referring to as well.

Budding on larger wood -that is, anything over about 1 inch diameter- in apples seems to fail me much of the time: the bark doesn't want to heal over the bud and pulls back instead. Once in a while a corner of the bud will heal in and the bud will express, but it is an uphill battle.

I've seen success with scions such as you'd use for clefting or W&T grafting inserted under mature apple bark well down the tree. Myself I think I'd consider a wedge graft, but I've never done it- just watched the video on You Tube.

I tried many variations on this and they all failed. Its best to just lop off a scaffold and bark or cleft graft to it. Cherries make new buds on old wood so if you also wanted to keep some of the original variety just let one of the buds at the cut point grow out. I have done that many times to turn a single variety tree into one that keeps the original variety as well as adding new ones.

Scott

This is helpful to know scott,
Just yesterday Iwas looking at a whitegold tree I really should have headed back further when it went into the ground....scaffolds all starting much too high and not enough of them.
I was considering cutting it back very hard (next season), but wasn't sure how readily cherry throw new wood

Thank you all for your input. The shape of my trees prevents some of the grafting options you've recommended so I've started a new post here that includes a diagram of a typical tree in my orchard. I hope this makes it clearer what I'm trying to achieve.