Shaving that don't curl!

[Matthew N. Masail]

I have a new (as in not an old plane) no.3 iron smoothing plane, the chip breaker has a flat bevel rather that a rounded edge.

last week I tried setting the chip breaker close for the first time. the mouth is also set very tight. well... It planes beautifully, but the weirdest thing is that the shavings come out straight! not curled in any way... has anyone
had this before? I don't really care and I'm thinking it might be a good thing, but I'm wondering what's causing it. perhaps the mouth combined with the chip breaker is holding the shaving straight as if it were going through a roller press?

edit: I just tried it out against the grain on some spalle, and it didn't tear out. this is wood the tears out aggressively if I don't get the direction right. it doesn’t leave a high gloss finish as when I plane with the grain, but I couldn't feel any tear-out in the surface. I'm guessing all this means I got the chipbreaker set right? doe's a closely set chipbreaker usually give straight shavings?

[Tony Shea]

Yes this this typical of a closely set chipbreaker. It also depends on the angle of the bevel on the chipbreaker. The steeper the angle the more forward the shaving will come out, towards the front knob of the plane. So yes this is a good thing that the shavings are not curling up and are coming straight out of the mouth. The shavings should also have little ridge looking things all along them.

[Jim Koepke]

An extremely sharp blade with a tight mouth and a close set chip breaker can cut without tear out against the grain.

If you want to see some curl in the shavings, skew the plane about 45º to the direction of planing.

jtk

[David Weaver]

I'm guessing all this means I got the chipbreaker set right? doe's a closely set chipbreaker usually give straight shavings?

Yes, straight shavings and no tearout on something that usually does (well, straight shavings in general) is telling you that you have the cap iron set so that it's working the chip (applying pressure on the chip forcing it back into the surface).

That's a good thing.

[Kees Heiden]

Yes good thing! And in a woodie it also helps against chocking. Oc course the woodie needs to be well tuned, but even then they can misbehave with curly shavings getting stuck. These straight shavings really shoot out of the plane.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thanks, I agree with everything you guy's said. glad to have learned this!