Replacing Plane Blades - Do I Need New Chipbreakers?

[Andy Pedler]

I'm going to upgrade one or two of my plane irons with Hock blades to try them out. But I'm a little confused about whether I need to upgrade the chip breaker along with the iron. Will the iron work with the stock breaker, or will the lateral adjustment not work?

Should I consider buying the blade/breakers as pairs or just upgrade one or the other to start with?

Thanks!

Andy - Newark, CA

[Johnny Kleso]

Blade is 30% thicker thats all you need..
Yes Cap Iron will work with depth adjuster

[Mike Siemsen]

The blade thickness is what causes the chip breaker to not engage with the adjuster. Replacing the chip breaker will not change this. I question how much difference a replacement iron really makes unless the one you have is used up or pitted. In his book "The Perfect Edge" Pages 100 and 101 Ron Hock himself states that the stock irons are fine and that proper set up of the plane is more important.
Mike

[David Weaver]

Mike - I would say they offer two benefits:
1) they *feel* better than a stock iron. The harder the wood, the bigger the difference.
2) they hold an edge a lot longer

I know you know both of those already. #2 is enough for me. Not a big deal if you're just removing chatter marks, but as much of a nuisance as it is to sharpen a stanely style plane, doing it less is always nice. Like mike said, the thickness of the iron is what determines the change in the amount of slop over a stock iron.

To the OP - if your original chipbreaker is fine and works fine with replacement irons, there's no reason to get a replacement one. The replacement iron provides most of the benefit. Read up on setting the stanley chipbreaker so that it contacts the iron the way it's supposed to. There is no reason to get brand specific on a replacement iron unless you want the easiest one to prepare, which I would say is the LV iron. The IBC irons come close, but you'll likely find you need to do some work to them to get them as flat as the LV irons, and they are very expensive for stanley replacements.

The LN irons are nice, too, but also cost more than the hock. Hock is my first choice because it's the cheapest (craftsmanstudio) and LV is choice #2 because it's got the flattest back and is very easy to prepare. Just my opinion. Durability of the edge for all of them is similar, and much better than stanley stock irons.

[Andy Pedler]

Thanks to everyone for the info. I'll put in an order for a couple of irons and skip the new chip breakers for now. I'm thinking of going ahead and getting one each of the HC and A2 steel irons just to see if I can notice a difference.

I appreciate the info about all of the replacement irons being a step up from the standard. I'm going to buy from Hock Tools since I've met Ron at a couple of the LN Hand Tool events in Oakland. At the first one I attended (maybe 3-4 years back), I mentioned that I'd never even used a handplane before and knew nothing about them. Despite other potential customers milling around, Ron proceeded to give me a thorough education on how a bench plane works, how to adjust one, etc. He let me try out a plane he had handy and gave me some advice on proper technique. I really appreciated all the time he spent with someone who wasn't likely to be a customer that day.

Thanks again for all the responses.

Andy - Newark, CA

[Jim Koepke]

Andy,

There is not much to add.

I think your plan to buy one of each to determine which works best for you is a wise decision.

I was likely at the same tool event as you about 3-4 years ago. When I met Ron Hock, he also made an impression on me. His personality makes a person feel good doing business with him.

jtk