On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 06:46:50 -0400, wilbur
wrote:

Then I read about infill planes. They look really nice, but can anyone
tell me if there is a functional advantage of having the wooden infil
vs. a regular metal bodied plane?

Infills really can be better.

First of all, they're intended to be better. They're just made for it -
better fit, tighter tolerances, a design intended specifically for fine
smoothing in awkward timber.

In practice, as far as my Norrises are concerned, it's the zero-backlash
adjuster that makes the difference. It's the best design of adjuster
I've yet found (I prefer the differential screw version) although it's
notably copied onto modern Veritas planes.

As to weight, then I don;t find their extra weight to be an advantage.
Weight is good, but by the time you've got to an iron plane, a lot extra
isn't much extra help. The point of the rest of an infill's behaviour is
that you don't have to use inertia as a hammer - it's _sharp_.

As to the blades, then mine have Sheffield laminated and tapered irons
from a variety of makers. These are all good irons and chatter proof
owing to the enormous thickness of both them and their cap irons.
They're not as hard as Japanese laminated irons though, and they don't
have anything like the eternal edge holding of A2.

I like my infills, but I wouldn't pay insane collector prices for them.
You can get the same performance from Veritas, or for less weight and
wedge adjustment, one of Steve Knight's.