You are right Larry she is a very special Lady and I don't know what I would do without her.
I had a chance to use the new plane for the first time yesterday. I probably wasn't using it the way I should but, managed to flatten one side of some really rough burly ash planks that will soon be a table top. I was surprised at how easy it was to flatten the planks. I was advised to purchase a 50 degree blade for the realy twisty grain and it worked very very well. It sure was nice to work without the big noise (other than me puffing that is
)
The plane really worked very well and I realize I need to build myself a proper bench where I can clamp things down and one that doesn't bounce around. (so many projects and not enough time
)
Don, I must admit I'm not totally converted to the dark side yet (I used the power planner to flatten the boards and reduce the thickness after I got one side flat with the hand plane.)
I'm told that with a well sharpened iron I should be able to roll of curly shavings in the rage of 1/2 a thousandth with this plane.
I'm currently building a 40" square coffee table for my daughter and I expect that the first big test using the new jack will be flattening the top and jointing the edges and ends.
I also bought a book written by Christopher Schwartz called hand plane Essentials. Hopefully it will help me learn how to setup and use my plane the way it should be done. (but as you see I couldn't wait, had to use the plane before I finished the book)
Will post some pics when I have some nice long curly shavings to show you.