Veritas cap iron on plane - success!

[Federico Mena Quintero]

I have a Truper brand #5 plane, basically a crappy copy of a Stanley. Mexican brand but probably made in China - you know the drill.

I've fettled the plane enough to the degree at which I think is appropriate for a jack plane.

The iron is not stellar, but it works. However, the chipbreaker has always been terrible. It's too thin and soft. It never matched the iron well, even though I filed/polished it carefully whenever it got out of whack. Bits of shavings always managed to get themselves between the iron and the breaker.

I got a Veritas cap iron and put it to work two weeks ago. The plane has never cut better. It doesn't chatter any more, and shavings don't get stuck. I guess the rigidity of the Veritas (I can't bend it with my hands, whereas I could with the original one), plus the fact that it is flat and matches the iron well, are what make it work so nicely.

Summary: crappy plane, well-fettled, with non-special iron, but with good breaker = pretty damn good.

[Adam Cruea]

I've got the Veritas breakers on almost all my planes. . .they make a wonderful world of difference.

You should try it with a PM-V11 blade, though.

[Chris Hachet]

I've got the Veritas breakers on almost all my planes. . .they make a wonderful world of difference.

You should try it with a PM-V11 blade, though.

I am pretty much in lust over the PM-V11 steel...however, after buying a Bad Axe saw, a Lie Nielson dovetail saw, a Lie Nielson Rabbit/block plane, a couple of mortise chisels, and a few other goodies....my tool budget for August is pretty much shot. It's going to get worse tomorrow when I place another order to LN.....but I am going to put PM-V11 steel in several of my Stanly's shortly.

[Jim Belair]

Great to hear Federico. And getting the improved performance by replacing the breaker not the blade means no issues of whether the mouth needs to be opened, or whether the adjuster pawl will reach. All contingent on the iron being acceptable of course. Sounds like yours is.

[Chris Griggs]

A well fitting cap iron is a lovely thing. I usually just use the stock ones, but indeed sometimes they are beyond repair...its definitely worth the $25 or so bucks to get one that mates well so the plane can be use as was intended. Nice success story!

[David Weaver]

Why they make the new ones the way they are sometimes when they are just cheap mild steel is beyond me. Even if they're unhardened tool steel, they're stamped, but I have seen the same type where there isn't enough curved stock to get a good fit, the chipbreaker is flat and flimsy or it's cut out of geometry laterally.

I am back to stock thickness irons on all of my planes with the stock chipbreakers (that's a thick iron on the LN jointer and on an infill panel plane, though), and I think at some point, I probably will unload the gobs of A2 plane irons and "improved" chipbreakers that I have, because they're never going to get used.

But putting a premium chipbreaker on a plane where the stock one is crap and the rest is OK is a good move.

[Jim Koepke]

my tool budget for August is pretty much shot.

That sounds like more than my budget for the past 5 years!

Being retired does have some disadvantages.

It is amazing how many problems a chip breaker can cause. Mine are usually polished and sometimes waxed in the business area. Getting a good mate to the cutting iron can be tricky at times.

Good that you found a fix without a lot of frustration.

jtk

[Federico Mena Quintero]

I was -><- this close to buying a new Veritas iron as well as the cap iron, but decided to spend the money on other more pressing needs (grinding wheel dresser, books, fresh strawberries...).

The iron I have is the one that came with the plane. It's not too bad. I don't work woods that are so hard that it needs constant resharpening, and I'm comfortable with sharpening it as needed, anyway. But I didn't expect the huge difference that a good chipbreaker would make. The plane feels solid now, no chatter whatsoever even if I hit a knot.

[Bernadette Semilla]

I feel like this is probably a silly question but how come I've never seen a wooden chipbreaker? I can't help but wonder if a thick, dense hardwood chipbreaker would outperform the thin curved Stanley ones on my planes. I don't have much experience with woodies but the wedge does not serve the same purpose and usually don't have a chipbreaker except for japanese kanna, right?

[Jim Koepke]

I feel like this is probably a silly question but how come I've never seen a wooden chipbreaker?

Actually on some of my molding planes it seems the wedge needs to be tuned like a chip breaker. Otherwise shavings get stuck under it and clog up the works.

It seems in the original patent information L. Bailey felt the chip breaker (cap iron) helped to stiffen the blade in order to resist flexing. Of course now we know different ways in how a chip breaker works.

Wood is more susceptible to wear than iron. That may be one reason we do not see wood as close to the cutting edge.

jtk