Thanks for the link, Andy. That really got me thinking.

I've never paid a lot of attention to setting the chip breaker on my planes, usually just setting it by eye to what I think is a 'reasonably narrow' set-back. I usually find that fiddling with the depth and lateral adjustments will then give me what I consider acceptable performance, but I consider myself a beginner.

Chris Schwarz's opinion is one I've come to respect. Having seen this blog, maybe I should pay a little more attention and see if taking care to set a slightly different set-back will make a difference in how the plane performs.

I'd be interested in what some of the more learned members of the forum think.

Ted