Thoughts about debarking vine maple - scraper technique

I'm working on a vine maple stave at present. It's the first time I've worked with this wood. I purchased it as a dried stave with the bark on, so removing the bark is the first task. Carson over at Echo Archery has a blog post about debarking staves using a dulled drawknife. I haven't tried it yet and have been using a scraper, and in the process I think I may have discovered something interesting.

Carson points out that using a scraper is time consuming and requires a lot of maintenance. Based on this experience, I'd have to disagree. The scraper I'm using was carefully prepared with a sharp edge carefully rolled -- but that was quite some time ago. So I would identify this one as being "somewhat dulled." I find it works quickly through the outer bark, but there is the risk of cutting through the first layers of wood as one proceeds through the inner bark. This is where I think I may have discovered something through trial and error.

I first quickly (and roughly) removed the outer bark by presenting the scraper at the same angle I would if I were scraping wood -- closer to 45 degrees to the surface of the wood so that the rolled edge of the scraper really digs in and removes bark aggressively. I continue this into the inner bark until the wood is just starting to peek through.

Here is the change: At this point, I started to present the scraper to the wood at close to a 90 degree angle, maybe 5-10 degrees less. By passing the scraper back and forth quickly over the inner bark and gradually canting the scraper closer to the wood, the rolled edge of the scraper just catches the softer inner bark while the dulled part on the edge/side of the scraper rides over the harder surface of the wood, burnishing it in the process without cutting into it.

This has worked surprisingly well, even in areas where I know there are pin knots. It's all about the angle at which the scraper is presented to the wood. The closer the scraper is to 90 degrees, the less opportunity the rolled sharpened edge has to catch on anything. Tilt it just enough and the rolled edge catches on the soft raised surfaces without cutting into the harder wood beneath.

Here's a quick (but unexciting) video showing the technique on the vine maple, in case you are curious about how it works. The outer bark has already been removed, so you're looking at the removal of just the inner bark. At first I start with a heavier cutting angle (you can hear the "rasping" sound as it is coming off), then I switch to having the scraper more perpendicular to the wood. Here you can hear the "squeaking" sound of the scraper riding over the harder wood while you see the last bits of inner bark come off. (Note the importance of paying attention to the sound.) I'm not using much pressure or having to turn my wrists, so aside from the back/forth movement, I'm not working very hard to expose the wood beneath. It's all about letting the tool do the job.

It's just a matter of finesse. In some cases I'm not looking at the bark removal so much as feeling it in the scraper and listening for the change in sound. (This is one argument for the power of using hand tools and working without the day to day din of music and television in the background.)

I don't know how well this would work on softer wood such as yew or cascara because there may not be enough hardness in the sapwood for the scraper to ride over, but I imagine that the technique might work for removing the springy early wood from the harder late wood on osage. Guess I'll have to try it out.

EDIT: See the next post for further thoughts and information.