How to true a chip breaker

by JVHovey, Chatsworth CA, Wednesday, May 13, 2009, 10:00

I'm cleaning up a coffin smoothing plane with an Ohio Tool Co. blade, and I find that the chip breaker has two problems. First, its front edge is not perpendicular to the side, with the result that it's not possible to align it parallel with the edge of the blade. I'm reluctant to try to use a grinding wheel to solve this problem, for fear of grinding away too much material or in any case grinding unevenly. Can anyone think of another solution?

The second problem is that I polished both the back of the blade and the business end of the chip breaker to mirror finishes, the chip breaker does not sit perfectly flush against the back of the blade, making it possible for wood fibers to get lodged in between the two. Is the solution here simply to keep working the chip breaker on a diamond stone until it's flat, followed by polishing on a water stone? Is there some better way to achieve a perfectly flat edge on the chip breaker? I ask because it occurs to me that I may have introduced the curvature in the edge when cleaning rust and crud from the surface as I started this project.

Anyway, thanks in advance for help from those who reply. JVHovey

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JVHovey