Those are pretty cool ideas. I love using hand planes and shaves but I'm not sure I'd go through all that unless I had to tool curly maple or some other hard wood. I can work cedar okay with a poorly tuned tool but I have to admit, I've had problems planing certain hardwoods. Oak and Maple... I'm sure it's just a matter of getting everything set up right. In this case I'd probably just buy one of the Lie-Nielsen shaves. They're bound to be a big step up from the Record.

: 1. He replaces the 'issue' blade with one with a flattened back. I beleive
: one of the vendors he mentions is Hock. (The blade is more expensive than
: the 'shave though)

: 2. He trues the bed of the spokeshave with epoxy using the back of the new
: blade to ensure it's flat, and making sure the blade doesn't rest on the
: adjusting screws.

: 3. He manufactures a new chipbreaker/? using brass sock to make it fit flush
: to the blade.