Arch, negative rake scraping isn't new but it has been newly
discovered. When I first tried a negative rake scraper it didn't
impress me so I put it back on the tool rack and forgot about it. After
watching Stuart Batty demonstrate one I decided to try it again. My
tool is 1 x 3/8 inch. I reground it to a steeper 45 degrees on both
sides. I was turning a nice piece of quilted maple. It's difficult to
get a good surface on good tight quilt because the grain is constantly
changing, resulting in small tear-outs. I couldn't get a good enough
burr on the tool with my 60 grit wheel, so I went to a zircon 60 grit
belt on my 1-inch belt sander. This worked very well. I used the tool
level, and renewed the burr every 10 or 15 seconds. When the burr was
gone it didn't work at all. The quilted wood smoothed up very nicely.
I'm impressed. I think that it won't work well with very soft wood, in
fact the harder the wood the better it works. Because of the negative
rake, the tool isn't apt to dig in as it will when the tool is ground
in the conventional way. It's not to remove wood, just to smooth it up.
Use a very light touch. If you want to give it a try, just put a good
burr on a skew and have at it.