chip breakers and the ruler trick

[Jeff Bartley]

For those here that set their chip breakers really close do you also use the 'ruler trick' in sharpening the iron? I've been cleaning up some doors today that I just finished assembling and this question arose as I was sharpening mid-morning. Wouldn't the chip breaker land in the same location where the ruler trick would have removed a slight bevel? Or is that bevel so slight that it wouldn't make a difference? It would seem like a good spot for a chip to get caught.

[Jim Koepke]

I tend to set my chip breaker for the plane and the job. Slight removal when finishing a surface as opposed to heavy removal of dimensioning or flattening.

I tend to not use the ruler trick. It may be employed on a really bad edge with pits and such, but those are usually blades that are not being used for final smoothing.

It could also depend on the chip breaker in use. My old Stanley/Bailey style chip breakers are usually set up with the end being beveled so only a fine line along the edge of the chip breaker is against the blade. The bevel should be steep enough to still make good contact even with a slight ruler trick produced back bevel on the blade. That is just my thoughts on the subject since most of the time the ruler trick isn't used on my blades so my experience is nil. I could see with my Hock chip breakers there could be a problem.

jtk

[Steve Friedman]

I asked that exact same question on another forum a few months ago and the answer I got was that the back bevel created is much smaller than the angle on the mating surface of the chip breaker. Therefore, the tiny back bevel shouldn't matter as long as the chip breaker and blade mate.

I have been using the ruler trick and the chip breaker technique together and it works fine.

Steve

[Daniel Rode]

I has the same question a couple of weeks ago. See this thread (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?212869-Chip-breaker-when-using-the-ruler-trick). The consensus from forum members, including David Charlesworth, was that the micro-bevel from the "ruler trick" is so small that it's not an issue.