Planer chip size

[SoftWood]

Odd question but what factors go into the chips size coming out of a planer? 
Helical head 

[doc henderson]

I would say, moisture content, wood hardness and grain orientation, feed rate, species.  depth of cut.

[SoftWood]

Hmmm ok thanks
I only work with quarter sawn cedar, and my feed rate hasn't changed but I swear my chips are getting smaller than they were months ago.  I'm sure I was getting 50% of them as pinky nail sized chips before, however now they seem to be shavings that are quite narrow and short.  

[doc henderson]

have your run enough bf to need to rotate the cutters?  are they dull?  We just have ERC (juniper) here.  what kind of cedar?

[SoftWood]

I've rotated them as they have been needed, but not kept track of how many BF.  Perhaps it's time if this is an indicator.

[doc henderson]

If it is otherwise working well, maybe not.  thinking outload.  Is your source of wood consistent or is it poss. the type of wood has changed in some way?  I assume your planing style and procedure is constant.  give this 24 hour and some others will chime in.  the pics are helpful.  is the surface of the wood high quality (cutting well).  does it feel hotter than usual?  (dull cutters).  can you adjust the feed rate?  My old planer had 2 feed rates; my newer one is variable.  @YellowHammer @customsawyer .  do you have a minifying loop?  can you take magnified pics of the cutters?  throwing out ideas so do not go to too much work.

[doc henderson]

Chips in the barrel look quite variable.  If the wood surface quality is good, I would not worry too much about the chip size.

[dougtrr2]

Doc has pretty well covered it.  How much sawdust is mixed with the chips?  With a straight knife planer I find that as the blades get dull there is more sawdust in the mix.  I think it would be the same for helical heads also.

Doug in SW IA

[GAB]

Would the moisture content of the wood be a contributing factor?
GAB

[SoftWood]

Yes the wood source is consistent and my planing method has been the same, taking around 1/16" off each side, give or take. 

It does have adjustable feed rate, 16fpm & 30fpm, I've always used the faster feed as I don't notice a lot of finished surface difference between the two.  The lumber surface coming out doesn't feel any hotter to me.  

I bag my chips afterward and use it for filler/packing in boxes, that is my reasoning for wanting bigger chips.  These shavings work the same but are so much messier and dustier.  

[doc henderson]

Not sure what you are sending but could put saw waste in baggies to avoid the mess.  or pack the item(s) to ship in a bag.  Add a note stating the packing material is biodegradable.  I was going to say stop looking at the chips then and solve the problem.  

[beenthere]

Are you doing all the planer adjustments to keep up with the knives wearing? Not sure for your planer what they might be or entail, but may be necessary. 

[Larry]

I would look at your machines chip breaker after ruling out other items, especially dull knives. You didn't say the planer brand but the chip breaker can be plastic, metal bar, segmented, or even no chip breaker. The first two are subject to wear and need periodic adjustment. The segmented not so much.

I could care less about chip size so long as I'm getting a good finish. Are you having finish problems?

[SoftWood]

I went through and turned all the teeth, replaced some.  Still getting the same shavings in the barrel but finished planing everything for now.  
I was actually going to look at the chip breaker but figured it wouldn't go out of adjustment on its own.  I'll have to look at that in some downtime.  

I couldn't care less about the chips in any other situation, as the finish is fine, but I put them in organza bags for filler in the boxes so people can reuse them.  Organza bags are full of tiny holes so the scent of the cedar comes through but with these shavings, they are extremely messy with dust coming through the holes. 

[SwampDonkey]

I have planed dry maple this winter, chips are 1/4" square or so. Then recently I planed green white cedar and the chips were more like Christmas tree tinsel. Smelled nice though. I couldn't use them in the stove like the dry maple ones, was too wet. I've heard white cedar dulls blades quicker than some woods, but I can not find anything that substantiates it. I suspect it was in logs with bark and sand in the bark. 

[Ed]

A helical head makes small chips, mine are about that size....I would expect planing cedar the inserts would go thousands of bf before getting dull.

Ed

[customsawyer]

I can't offer much more that hasn't been said already. Would like to know what kind of planer we're talking about. How wide is it? How many HP.?

[SoftWood]

It's a Steel City 20" 5hp