I'd swear you could strike a match off one of the lobes on the Schneider cam I just bought.  The Delta resurfaced rockers were a little smoother though.

 

I've seen the rough finish on new cams.  I wonder what it is though, a coating, or the actual finish from grinding?

 

Anyway, here's some good data on materials and other rocker arm specs. - http://www.rhdjapan.com/kameari-l-type-rocker-arms-set-l6.html

It's the cut I'm pretty sure.  There's no kind of coating on mine, yet!  It came with the paste and a bottle of ZDDP.  It did come in an oily bag though. 

Are there brand names on the paste and the ZDDP oil supplement?  Curious as to what the pros send out with their cams.  Did Schneider send recommendations on oils also?

Are there brand names on the paste and the ZDDP oil supplement?  Curious as to what the pros send out with their cams.  Did Schneider send recommendations on oils also?

Schneider's name and formula numbers, #2 break-in additive, #3 oil additive after 500 mile oil change.  http://schneidercams.com/engineadditives.aspx

Just got my rockers back from Rocker Arms USA in CA. The guy I talked said they have been doing these for 30+ years, but just moved their business. I already have a set from Delta, but wanted to compare.

Gary, I believe I have the name right, said the rockers wouldn't have a perfectly polished finished. He said the finish inperfections were to help retain oil. 

Take a look at the pics and judge for yourself.

Very pretty, what is the Rocker arms USA price like compared with Delta?

What's your conclusion Steve? Don't know about you, but I think the delta rockers look nicer.

Seems reasonable to have those diagonals for oil. Could be a great modification. Thanks. 

Asperities are the enemy.  Most failures occur during break-in or at startup (no oil film).  Broken in engines have much smoother surfaces than new parts and are less likely to fail than new parts.  I understand the feeling that roughness holds oil and oil is good, therefore roughness is good, but the counter argument is that oil is there to combat roughness, so smoothness is good.  Seems like dealing with the devil.  Could certainly use more study.  If very rough is bad, and very smooth is bad, then there must be an optimum in the middle.  Knowing that magic number could save some parts.

Here's an old article.  People have wondered about this for a while - https://books.google.com/books?id=CRDEneSREucC&pg=PA144&lpg=PA144&dq=smooth+tappet+surface&source=bl&ots=7Hum0yt51O&sig=DgXG_t_DAzbCNCNPCEvDyp7C-x0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-AIzVd2fAoO3oQTo2IGwCA&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=smooth%20tappet%20surface&f=false

It seems that the lash pad part of the rocker has more texture ( for lack of better words) then the cam side. Those lines you see can't hardly be felt or grabbed with a finger nail.

I think a lot more cam failures are do to operator error than these rockers. Not properly setting them up or properly priming the engine before initial fire up. Throw in there the lack of zinc, proper adjustments, etc...