Lie-Nielsen No.4 1/2 Iron Smoothing Plane

"First, this plane is stupidly expensive but that is the one and only downside. The woodwork is second to none, my example was exceptionally flat with perfectly square sides. I was also surprised to find that the blade was flat and the David Charlesworth ruler trick was barely required. You can save yourself quite a bit of money by purchasing Veritas low angle planes but you need to try one of those before you buy because they are much lighter and just different in use."

"I ummed and aahhed for weeks. In the basket, out the basket. Finally decided I will only live once and decided to order the LN plane... wish I had years ago. There probably is some bias in wanting an expensive plane to be better, so I asked my wife to have a go and switch back to a Stanley 4 1/4 with a new iron (science). 2 hours later she'd squared my to-do pile and won't give it back. A genuine piece of masterful engineering that will last generations. The only downside is needing to add to the collection!"