Adding a chipbreaker to the Veritas Wooden Plane Kit?

[Matthew Springer]

I'd like to build a woodie smoother. I really like the idea of the Norris style adjuster and I definitely love PMV11 on the LV kit, but I also really like the idea of the chipbreaker like on the Hock kit.

So has anyone added a top iron/chipbreaker to the Veritas Wooden Plane kit? The blade looks like it is installed bevel down so what am I missing other than a way to screw the chipbreaker to the main iron and making the cross pin one iron thickness further away from the bed?

[Patrick Chase]

I'd like to build a woodie smoother. I really like the idea of the Norris style adjuster and I definitely love PMV11 on the LV kit, but I also really like the idea of the chipbreaker like on the Hock kit.

So has anyone added a top iron/chipbreaker to the Veritas Wooden Plane kit? The blade looks like it is installed bevel down so what am I missing other than a way to screw the chipbreaker to the main iron and making the cross pin one iron thickness further away from the bed?

I think that's about it.

Hopefully Steve Voight is still lurking and will comment - He makes double-iron woodies and sources his irons from LV, so he will know what had to be changed relative to that iron.

[Mike Brady]

I built a plane from one of the LV kits that didn't have a chip breaker (it does have a wedge that functions like a lever cap). Well, lets just say it's a good looking plane.

[Bill Houghton]

Are you looking at their tapered irons, or their parallel irons? If parallel, have you explored getting an iron, chipbreaker, and Norris adjuster mechanism from one of the metal-bodied planes and adapting the package to a woodie? Just speculatin', never thought about it.

[Matthew Springer]

It's one of the parallel irons in the "Wooden Bench plane Plane Kit" which is the norris adjuster, level cap screw and a cup socket for the norris style adjuster. I _think_ it s bevel down, the "Wooden Plane Kit" is a more tapered blade it's explicitly listed as bevel down. It's a parallel constant thickness iron with mostly parallel sides up until the end. Worse case, I could buy as second iron and flip it over since that's how they rocked it in the 1700s. Then you'd just hope the lever cap exerted enough pressure to keep the upper iron the assembly in the right alignment.

Basically since I learned the proper chipbreaker alignemetn I'm pretty happy getting so much less tearout. I kinda don't want a single iron smoother when a double iron is potentially so much less tearout.

[Patrick Chase]

Basically since I learned the proper chipbreaker alignemetn I'm pretty happy getting so much less tearout. I kinda don't want a single iron smoother when a double iron is potentially so much less tearout.

I clearly remember that epiphany. It was pretty amazing to realize how close you can safely place the cap iron, and how much tearout it prevents. Like you I wouldn't build a single-iron bench plane at this point (moulding planes are a different matter of course).

[Steve Voigt]

I think that's about it.

Hopefully Steve Voight is still lurking and will comment - He makes double-iron woodies and sources his irons from LV, so he will know what had to be changed relative to that iron.

I'm afraid I can't help; I've never built a plane with a mechanical adjuster, and I probably never will. Veritas does make my irons, but they are made to my specs, from my own drawings, and I don't know exactly how they differ from LV's own irons.

[Derek Cohen]

I'd like to build a woodie smoother. I really like the idea of the Norris style adjuster and I definitely love PMV11 on the LV kit, but I also really like the idea of the chipbreaker like on the Hock kit.

So has anyone added a top iron/chipbreaker to the Veritas Wooden Plane kit? The blade looks like it is installed bevel down so what am I missing other than a way to screw the chipbreaker to the main iron and making the cross pin one iron thickness further away from the bed?

Matthew, I don't see why it cannot be done. You will either need to make your own chipbreaker or purchase one from Hock (the kit blades are 2 1/4" wide).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Patrick Chase]

I'm afraid I can't help; I've never built a plane with a mechanical adjuster, and I probably never will. Veritas does make my irons, but they are made to my specs, from my own drawings, and I don't know exactly how they differ from LV's own irons.

Ah right, that was a mental slip on my part. Sorry!

On a related note, these (http://blackdogswoodshop.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-double-iron-part-1.html) blog (http://blackdogswoodshop.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-double-iron-part-ii.html) posts (http://blackdogswoodshop.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-double-iron-part-iii.html) (there are 3) by Steve present a very good condensed history of the cap iron. I think that the hypothesis about 18th/19th-Century measurement precision (or lack thereof) in particular is compelling.