Tonearms without anti-skate, damage to records?

Has anyone performed Peter Ledermann's recommended AS method (set to permit slow centripetal progress on smooth vinyl) and compared the resulting AS force to standard recommendations? My experience with doing it on two or three cartridges is that it comes out to about half of the VTF (though how much VTF affects skating force on smooth vinyl isn't obvious to me: presumably VTF acts through force on angled groove walls).

One thing I am pretty sure of is that Decca cartridges sound their best with little to no AS set, which perhaps isn't surprising as their armature, triangular in shape in the horizontal plane, is relatively resistant to sideways movement. That's probably something I should explore further in a Decca forum.

dogberry, How do you know that you are setting AS to "half of VTF"? You can know the VTF in grams very precisely, but how do you know the AS force at the headshell, where the skating force is manifested? For me, that is where we are blinded unless Mijostyn will loan us his home made tool or we buy the Wally version.

True, all I can do is twiddle the dial as made and calibrated by SME, or the slider in the case of Rega. I use two arms from each, and setting them up this way conforms to PL’s method.

Going by sound alone, I’d say that this setting or even less is the best. It’s a night and day difference for the Decca, which comes to life with little or no AS force. But as always, I’m judging on sound quality alone, as having but one ear, I don’t do stereo, imaging, soundstaging and other (to me) imaginary concepts.

@lewm , my home made tool did not work well in the end. I could not get reliable readings out of it. I opted for a Wallyskater as the most reliable way to get into the AS ballpark and have found by all accounts 9-11% is correct. Three methods actually agree with each other. The least reliably accurate is the Frank Schroder/ Peter Ledermann slow fade to the inside in the runout groove area. Next is the Jonathan Carr cantilever observation method which when used with magnification is surprisingly accurate and finally the Wallyskater which will give you a perfectly straight cantilever everytime without any dependency on observational astuteness.  

@rauliruegas , The skating force exists within a range dependant most on VTF. It is never close to zero and never beyond a certain degree. It is getting within the middle of that range which is important. When severely off as with no AS at all record wear on the left channel and that side of the stylus is greatly increased, the cantilever can be permanently deflected to the opposite side and mistraking occurs early in the right channel. You can demonstrate this with almost any test record. My friend's Spectral cartridge had the cantilever permanently bent to the left side by chronically too much AS and this will lead to early mistracking in the left channel again easy to demonstrate and accelerated wear on the right channel groove wall.  Other than mistracking whether or not you can hear any of this is a question I can not answer. My own inclination is that if you are listening to the right characteristics, you can. Before mistracking and increased wear occur cantilever deflection causes asymmetry in the alignment of the coils in the magnetic gap. If the magnetic structure was designed properly the field intensity should remain the same anywhere within the gap but the field lines will change. As a psychological issue I am happiest when symmetry is maintained. When I am happy my system, which is currently in shambles, sounds better. 

@clearthinker , ahmen.

The US is much younger than Europe and our immaturity frequently sends us into these unpredictable spasms like the 18th amendment. We'll come around, but the sane minds that will have to prevent WW 3 will be European. As the musical prophet Eric Dolphy would say, at this moment we are "Out to Lunch."