I got to see Eric Lofstrom on Thursday night up in Salem, OR. Looks like an entire different set of experiments in NRSs' (negative rake scrapers). Eric's NRSs all have burnished hooks on them rather than the standard grinder burr. He can rough turn with them, and his burr leaves a surface that pretty much doesn't need sanding.... I have to check back with him about his angles, but most appear to be in the 70 bottom/20 top, but some are more like 50 bottom and 20 top. His burnishing tool is wood handle with about a 1/8 inch carbide rod inserted into it. I took a piece of drill rod, drilled a hole in the end, and put a small carbide drill bit into it. Tried it first on my 30/30 NRS, and just now on my 70/20 NRS. I did a small spindle, then a small madrone bowl. It leaves about a 320 to 400 grit surface. Really! The trick seems to be the small diameter carbide rod. I may have been burnishing wrong all these years.... Anything to cut down on sanding time.

There is a picture of his tool at the bottom of the file on sharpening:

http://www.ericlofstrom.com/resources/

robo hippy