Ron Hock
HOCK TOOLS www.hocktools.com

alexM,
If you're not already aware of this, Ron isn't some random spammer
trying to get more hits on his website - he's a well-respected plane
and plane-iron maker. You got some good advice. I won't add much to
the bevel advice, but I'll second the recommendation to get a good
aftermarket blade for your old Stanley - Ron Hock, Lee Valley, and Lie
Nielsen are the names that regularly come up for top-notch replacement
blades.
Also, I've had good luck smoothing figured woods with a card scraper
or cabinet scraper (needs some practice to sharpen, but very effective
once you get it tuned, and quite inexpensive). Additionally, I
recently bought an inexpensive "high angle smooth plane" like the Hong
Kong style sold by LV that works well on figured woods - basically
this has a steep blade angle with a super-fine mouth opening, and any
plane with that combination should theoretically do well on figured
wood.
Good luck,
Andy