Originally Posted by
JohnC Lucas
One other advantage of the negative rake scraper is it applies almost no force against the wood so you get less chatter than you do with a regular scraper. This is especially true on thin platters with wings such as natural edge bowls. I used to think that holding a scraper handle up high was the same thing as a negative rake scraper if they both had the same included angle to the edge. It's not. My older tear drop scrapers were ground about 75 degrees. So flipping them over does produce a negative rake but it still works like holding a handle high on a regular scraper. Sharpening a scraper to a more acute angle like 45 degrees and giving it a negative rake on top is a much more controllable tool and leaves a fantastic finish.