Patent ID: 7506674

Claim:
A combination of a knife and a clamping assembly for use in a wood working machine that causes said knife to advance in a cutting direction, with a front side of said knife leading in the cutting direction and a rear side of said knife trailing in the cutting direction, said knife comprising a knife body including a first, cutting edge, an opposed second edge, a rear clamping surface on said rear side and an opposed front clamping surface on said front side, said rear and front sides each terminating at said first, cutting edge and said second edge, said rear clamping surface having opposed, non-coplanar clamping features spaced apart from a center of a middle section that separates said clamping features, said clamping assembly comprising rear and front clamping components for respectively engaging said rear and front clamping surfaces, said opposed clamping features, said rear clamping component and said middle section of said knife body being configured relative to each other such that said rear clamping component engages said rear clamping surface of said knife body at said opposed clamping features to locate said knife body on said rear clamping component and support said knife body against cutting loads acting on said first, cutting edge during transformation of wood by the wood working machine in a direction opposite the cutting direction, wherein said middle section is non-load bearing.