E.C.E Primus smoother problem

[overland]

I love my ECE smoother, but I've run into a problem. When I set the chip breaker real close--to eliminate tear-out on figured woods--there doesn't seem to be enough room for the shavings. The mouth plugs. I've got the reformed style with the adjustable mouth, but it's set with the mouth as far open as possible.  If I back the chipbreaker off a little, it works fiine. Has anyone else encountered this problem?

[Souperchicken]

Are shavings getting stuck under the chipbreaker?

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

CAREFULLY open up the mouth. You may be able to remove the adjustable piece. Just because it came that way new does not mean that it will work. Sometimes planes just need adjustments.

[Hank Knight]

I have that problem with my Norris 5A. I was unwilling to tamper with the mouth, so I use it with the chipbreaker back a little from the edge. Works fine that way; in fact, it's the best smoother I own. Jim's advice about carefully opening the mouth is valid; but if you choose not to do that, it may not be the end of the world.

[SteveVoigt]

Hi Overland,

One thing that can cause a problem is when the wear angle is not vertical enough. However, I looked online at the diagram of this plane, and the wear looks perfectly fine to me--I would guess 80°-85°. It should work. And it should work with a reasonably fine mouth, say .020"-.030". So, assuming your mouth is not less than 1/64", there are two other places to look.

First is just a technique thing: are you skewing the plane radically, like 30° or more? If so, try reducing the skew to 10° or less, and that will help.

Second, and this is where I bet the problem lies, is the shape of the "nose" of the chipbreaker. A traditional chipbreaker is curved; it makes a steeper angle (around 45°-50°) with the cutting iron right at the tip, but then the angle gets shallower pretty quickly. From the picture, it looks like the chipbreaker just has a single flat bevel, and that bevel looks to be too steep to allow adequate room for the shaving. You can reshape the chipbreaker with a file, grinder, abrasive stuck to a flat surface, or whatever.

When I first started making planes, I made one with an aftermarket blade/chipbreaker (which shall remain nameless) and I had the same problem. Reshaping the nose of the chipbreaker did the trick.

[overland]

I tried several of these suggestions. I worked over the chip breaker to round it off a little and to make sure it fit flat against the blade and didn't allow shavings to get underneath. It all seemed to work. But although it seemed to cut cleanly it was still much harder to push with the chipbreaker close to the cutting edge. When I backed it off the plane was much easier to push. Is this just how a plane works with a chipbreaker set close?

[wmickley]

If the plane is noticeably harder to push, then that is a good indication that the cap iron is set too close to the edge. The quality of the work is probably suffering also.

[SteveVoigt]

I agree with Warren, with a couple caveats.
First, the chipbreaker should actually be sharp. If it's noticeably blunt, that will increase the resistance you're feeling, even if the chipbreaker is not super-close. It may help to put a small microbevel, around 50°, on the front, then work the back of the breaker on your fine stone to flip the burr over. Be careful here: you don't want a backbevel on the back of the chipbreaker--that will create a shaving trap. Anyway, after you have polished the back, strop the burr off.
Second, if there is an overly-steep microbevel on the front of the chipbreaker, that can increase the resistance as well. As I said before, shoot for around 50°.
A close set chipbreaker should increase planing resistance--that's one way you know it's working--but it shouldn't be physically painful or make you lose control of the plane. If you've done all the above and the plane is still too hard to push, back off the chipbreaker a little.