I'm sold!
I reshaped my old 3/4" Raffen skew to a half round scraper shape with 30/30 bevels. I've been having trouble finishing the inside of a 4" semi-closed cocabola bowl (about 3" deep), the wood is quite sensitive to slight mistakes. I went from the CBN 80 grit grinder directly to the bowl (no real burr, I'd been grinding both sides of the tool alternately and I didn't remember which side I did last). I made a light pass across the transition and up the side and got a decent result. I then honed the bevels and used two light passes of my hand burnisher to raise a "vertical burr" (as Bill suggested). I then made a couple of full passes across the bottom and around the corner and up the side of the bowl with a light touch. Wow! I smoothed out some uneven areas and came up with a decent surface. I went to the annoying "center nub" and was easily able to smooth it (I too often get a grab there with a standard scraper).
This does not mean I'm a total convert, I will still do all my basic shaping with gouges and I haven't yet tried an NRS for removing material. I'm also not sure if the final finish is better with the "skew type" NRS or shear scraping with a standard scraper, but I can see the additional control provided by the light touch and the tool flat on the rest. Next project is to modify an old scraper to an NRS and try it out for removing material.
BTW, I only went from the coarse CBN to the bowl as I was in a hurry, I'd just done the serious regrinding and didn't want to take time to go to the 180 grit CBN as it was late.
For those who asked about the diamond hone, I use an expensive one that lasts forever. Alan Lacer sells a hone of his design which is a 600 grit double sided slip stone with a wider round edge and a narrower round edge. It is made with the electroplating (I think, but don't hold me to it) process. I've had mine for three years with no deterioration - and I use it a lot. The 600 grit diamond surface works well for honing gouges and skews, and my kitchen knives and work knives, and anything else. I've basically retired my old set of diamond "stones" which were pockets of diamonds in metal rather than metal plated with diamonds - they were from my wood carving days. One warning, I bought a new Lacer stone about six months ago as my old one was clogging due to lack of maintenance. I then bought a Scotch Brite Hand and Nail brush in the Paint section of Home Depot, a small handy brush with stiff bristles, for about 3 bucks. I soaked my old stone in water, and a bit of dish soap, and vigorously applied the brush. I didn't need the new stone - but it is in reserve in the kitchen so I don't have to go to the workshop. Now I just run a bit of water on the stone and hit it with the brush a couple of times a week.
Pardon my going on, but I'm trying to cover the bases. I am a great believer in saving money by spending money and time. I use the Oneway setup for my rest mounts, and their Wolverine jig for gouges. But I spent the bucks a few years ago for Don Geiger's Vertical Solution V supports. Soon after that he came out with his modified one (name forgotten) that also had a four position peg that changes the distance from the wheel by a fixed amount. As I'd just bought the old one Don kindly sent me the parts to make a conversion for a nominal price. He has dropped that line in favor of his cheaper alternative - which I think is probably excellent. I also bought a D-Way 180 grit CBN wheel about four or five years ago, as it had the rounded edges I need for my Ellsworth style hollowing cutters (I do a lot of hollow forms, my old avatar showed them). I was tired of adjusting for the wearing down wheels. A year later I added the D-Way 80 grit wheel without the rounded edges, the 90 dg side cutting edge is useful.
One problem with Don's system is that his instructions, and supplies, are oriented to bowl gouges - and I make a lot of other grinds. He kindly sent me a few of the gauges he had not accepted to sell. I made a 30 dg gauge and a 45 dg. gauge to go with his 60 dg. guage. In combination with the leg settings of the Wolverine, and the height settings of the VS, and the four fixed distance settings of the new VS I can make almost any gouge grind shape I want. But the key is that I can duplicate it exactly.
We all know that the exact shape of the tool is unimportant to its use, and we all adapt to the shape we are using. But the exact duplication of a grind saves expensive steel as a couple of passes on the fine wheel are all that are needed in a regrind. It is worth the extra time in set up, and in equipment, to save the expensive steel in the long haul. And that brings me back to scrapers and hand honing and burnishing. Every time you go to the wheel you are removing steel from the tool. When you take off the old burr with a hand hone, then re-burr with a hand burnisher, you are not only able to change the angle of the burr if you choose, you are also losing no steel.
I grew up during WWII, with rationing cards for food and gasoline. We kids had toy soldiers, but only a couple, the rest were represented by twigs from a tree as we set up our military formations in the mud of the garden. I buy certain expensive tools (my Lacer skews, but my own handles) and my Thompson detail gouges, and my Crown PM parabolic bowl gouges. I also buy Benjamin's Best scrapers for reshaping to need (good steel, but not the best). My Ellsworth hollowing tools (I have about twelve with different shaft diameters and cutter sizes) cost me under ten dollars apiece. David has kindly told all his customers how to make his tools. The cutters cost about $9 at the vendors, but one can make them from stock for about a buck. David doesn't seem to understand he is supposed to make money from his "inventions", not make it easy for us to duplicate them <g>. I love the man. About 3 bucks for a blank of the 10% carbide about 3 inches long - that is three or four cutters depending on the width. I've gotten down to 1/8" for the very small, and my biggest are a quarter. O-1 tool rod goes for about ten bucks for 36", that is about four shafts. A bit of bending, a bit of drilling, and a bit of CA glue, and you have a tool. Oops, need a bit of wood for the handle.
I digressed, but that is me.
Best, Jon