Quote Originally Posted by Theo Hall View Post
I didn't, mainly because Lie-Nielsen suggested not burnishing/hooking this tool initially; they claim it works well without hooking..?
An unhooked scraper is just that: A scraper. The edge engages the wood at a >90 deg angle, which means that it simply can't cleanly cut the fibers. I would expect it to be limited to fairly thin, dusty shavings and to "gouge" if you try to take too thick of a cut (i.e. exactly what you described).

Burnishing the leading edge of a scraper forms a hook on its leading edge, that meets the wood at a much lower angle (60 deg or less). Doing that changes the mechanics from scraping to cutting, and allows a plane-like (not dusty) shaving to be taken.

There is no magic in cutting mechanics, and no reason why the L-N 212 would be different from every other scraping plane in the known universe.