Thread: Veritas Tapered Plane Blades

If only they had a slotted hole to take a chip breaker.

A question for the planies...is a chip breaker really necessary anyway? Karl Holtey doesn't think so...
Maybe one of these irons will be on the shopping list after all.

I keep getting emails on this.



Handplane Iron and Chipbreaker Kit | ShopWoodworking

Originally Posted by stevebaby

A question for the planies...is a chip breaker really necessary anyway?...

Stevebaby, this has been debated at some length on several occasions on several forums.

The answer is 'no'.

The answer is 'yes'

Whatever floats your boat......

Tapered vs. parallel blades has also been debated ad nauseum. The argument given in the LV blurb that back pressure on the blade tends to tighten it sounds convincing, until you realise that any force that tightens the blade is tending to loosen the wedge, since it has the opposite taper. You could make an argument that for tapered blades, the holding power of the wedge is even more dependant on the friction between wood and metal, or wood & wood, of the opposing surfaces, because the same amount of linear movement of the wedge will cause a bigger gap. In practice, it doesn't seem to matter, most of the time - both parallel and tapered blades can work very well. I've got both, & can't say I notice any difference in holding ability due to blade shape. I did have a bit of initial bother with a small woodie I made from Cooktown Ironwood. The blade I used is a piece of very flat, polished HSS, and it wanted to slip on the very smooth blade bed. I rubbed a bit of crushed resin on the bed, & that problem went away.

One vice all of my woodies have is their propensity to drop the blade out through the mouth, instantly, when the wedge loosens the teeniest fraction. With one of mine in particular, if I am not concentrating on the task & restraining the blade when I strike the plane body to loosen it, I have a very short time to make some very critical decisions. Do I try to catch it and risk a cut hand, or let it go & face a major regrind after it meets something hard, like the concrete floor? (That is, provided I move any other part of my anatomy from the trajectory,very quickly!).

Cheers,

Originally Posted by stevebaby

A question for the planies...is a chip breaker really necessary anyway? Karl Holtey doesn't think so...
Maybe one of these irons will be on the shopping list after all.

Here is something to read on the debate.

Old Street Tool, Inc. - Plane Articles - Single Irons vs. Double Irons