All of this discussion had confirmed what I thought all along. Those of
us who do use hand powered planes usually have many. We just have our
favorites close at hand when it counts. I have a BUNCHA' planes, I
still have the little Stanley block plane. It rides to work with me
every day. In my shop though, I like an old Stanley #5 Jack for
smoothing and short board jointing (1 by Whatever material), an old
Stanley 60 1/2 for end grain (it's a small low angle block plane), and
a BIG OLD # 7 STANLEY JOINTER! On about the fifth pass I can bring a
continuous curly from one end to the other on a 2x4. Wax the sole and
the blade and set it shallow. You can hang the curls on your kids ears.


Tom in KY, Keeping the shop interesting for the little ones.
I also keep a Stanley 101 in my tool belt.
Still working on getting a cessna plane. ;-)