Hi all,

I have been reading everything I could get my hands on in regards to setting the chipbreaker, bevel angles, and throat settings for planes. I think I understand most of the information out there but there is still an issue that bothers me.

A lower angle attack bevel leaves a superior surface - but it is prone to causing tearout
A higher angle causes less tearout, but is harder to push and leaves an inferior (to a low angle) finish. this spectrum goes all the way to a scraper which is used as the secret weapon against tearout but only as a last resort (I am only referring to flat surfaces).

In comes the chipbreaker/cap-iron/double-iron:
if set properly ("properly" changes by type of wood, depth of cut, etc...) it bends the wood fibers at such an angle that it compresses the fibers before the blade. compressing the fibers prevents them from tearing ahead of the blade (tearout).

the question is this: does a well tuned chipbreaker diminish the advantages of the low angle, or preserve them? I would have thought that the effects of a high angle and use of chipbreaker would be summative in fighting tearout.

recently I read an article by Derek Cohen in which he customized Veritas custom No.7 and No. 4 bench planes. (http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRev...omPlanes4.html) He advocated using a low frog angle (40°, and 42° respectively). in the article he compared and ranked various plane configurations importantly using the same plane with the same chipbreaker configuration with 42° and 50° frogs.
Why would a 42° frog with chipbreaker control tearout better than a 50° frog with chipbreaker? I thought that the only downside to high angle frogs is the difficulty in pushing them.