Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
Hi Wiley

I just use it. No further preparation is needed. That is the beauty of this tool. It is amazing what it can do on curved end grain.

I cannot take credit for the idea. Actually, it was mentioned to me first by Philip Marcou, planemaker, about 10 years ago. Then I saw one on the Stewmac site: https://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Scrapers/StewMac_Ultimate_Scraper.html

They have a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7XRbfbpXiE

But so easy to make if you have an old - hardish - steel blade.

Regards from Perth

Derek