I am from the school of get rid of the sandpaper on pen blanks. Learn to use a skew. Nothing like a sharp skew and you go from blank to finish. I then wet sand with MM. Saves alot of work. Your mileage may vary.
Ohh, if only Russ was still with us! And his words are:
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f28/requires-least-sanding-46171/#post842549
Quote Russ:
What is always left out of any comparison of tool finishes is the wood. All things being equal, shear scraping can leave a better surface finish than a skew chisel on the very hard dense and close grained species, but it can't come anywhere close on everything else.
If you really want to see the extreme differences, try using a both scraper and skew on Cocobolo, Blackwood, or Desert Ironwood. You will find that the scraper might be the better tool for these very hard species. At the opposite extreme, the scraper will be a disaster on a soft wood like Douglas Fir or Pine, while a sharp skew can leave a smooth clean cut and polished surface that doesn't need sanding.
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Russ Fairfield
Burls in general (IN My Opinion), would do better on a skew in most instances - unless they are stabilized, at which time they will do fairly well on a scraper. I am jealous of the skew users. I have spent hours on them and watched videos and DVDs, tied my tongue in a knot, held it sideways, contorted my face and still can't get the "feel" of the skew.