I've recently become a convert to the yes-the-chip-breaker-really-does-more-than-prevent-chatter school of thought and, as a result, I'm more careful to set the chip breaker close to the edge of the blade than I have been in the past. Once I started doing that, I noticed a problem with one of my Veritas replacement blade/chip breaker sets. I doubt that it makes a whole lot of difference, but in the interest of being more specific, it's a 2 3/8" blade on a Millers Falls No. 10 (equivalent to Stanley 4 1/2). The problem was that shavings accumulated between the blade and the chip breaker. Closer inspection showed that there was a very slight gap between the edge of the chipbreaker and the back of the blade. In other words, the chip breaker wasn't fitting against the blade at the edge as shown here http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/pag...68&cat=1,41182, but somewhere a bit farther back, probably at the back side of the flat area.
I thought about sending it back to Lee Valley, but I didn't want to wait on a replacement. Despite my reluctance to modify anything from Lee Valley, with a little work on a diamond stone I soon had it making contact right at the edge of the chipbreaker. While I was at it, I also rounded over and polished the top of the edge of the chipbreaker. Works fine now. However, I'm still not sure if there really was a problem with the chipbreaker to begin with, or if I was doing something else wrong -- maybe overtightening the screw so the chipbreaker flexed too much?
Has anyone else had a similar experience?