Leuf wrote:

[snip]

I would go more like this:

Veritas Low-Angle Block Plane
Veritas #4-1/2 Smoothing Plane
Veritas Medium Shoulder Plane
Stanley #5 off ebay
Stanley #6 off ebay

Your smoother is the one that needs the most tuning to work right so I
think it makes sense to put some money towards it, and you'll have a
reference for how your ebay planes should be performing. And you're
still $200 under your original cost, which you could put towards a
bench (good vises are *not* cheap), substitute a #7 for the #6, add
another specialized plane or two, or that other essential element
you'll want to have a lot of around when your planes arrive - wood.

This is the best advice given so far (and there's been plenty of
good advice) in this thread, IMHO.

You want a dedicated smoother, and that's where you want to spend
the extra cash. Old jacks, fores and jointers can be found for very
reasonable prices, and they don't require the level of tuning that a
smoother does, so I really see no need for spending the extra bucks on
them. You can always upgrade them with a Hock iron if you aren't
satisfied with the stock iron that comes with them.

I would even go so far as to suggest that you can get by with an old
#60-1/2 for your low-angle block plane, but I have watched the LV
low-angle gradually replace my #60-1/2 as my go-to block, so that would
be hypocritical of me. :-)

My philosophy of plane-buying really boils down to this: Save your
big bucks for the specialty planes where the old Stanleys would cost as
much or more than the new L-N or LV offerings. Buy Stanleys for the
more common planes that don't do such specialized duty. (Upgrade to
Hocks if desires/necessary.)


Chuck Vance