Allan,

I really appreciate your insight and completely respect your opinion. The only cautionary tale I can offer that is a perfect example of what you're talking about is when I convinced myself I needed a Festool 1400 plunge router.

I used that damn thing for 2 projects, one of which was to route a table surface for a fixed router setup. Immediately after I setup that fixed router (with a Bosch), I never picked up the Festool again because the fixed router did 95% of the routing work I had.

It was the clearest example of buying a tool without having a specific purpose for it, then lamenting the hole in your wallet and the occupied space on the shelves.

As for planes - the marketing managers got the categories right...premium, value, cheap but works. One of the things that I absolutely love doing is taking a piece of crap tool from Harbor Freight and modifying it into something that performs at least as good as a value offering. In this particular case, it's just not one of the projects I'm looking to take on...

Having worked in wood for enough time now to know the difference between a good tool and a bad tool, I'm fine with something like the Veritas offerings, and I personally don't have the inclination to drop $200 on a tool. I'm willing to a little premium for something nice, just not the premium that LN is asking for.

And after all this wrangling what I'll probably end up with is both the Veritas Apron and the Stanley block plane :)