I finally broke down after hemming and hawing over which plane to have for the stripping process and settled on the Veritas...Just got a chance to use it today and all I have to say is wow...It was spendy, but there's no substitute for the right tool when the need calls for it.

Filed under "you don't know what you don't know", an evening working with various mini trim planes left me wrestling with ergonomics, and adjustability...adjusting blade depths using a gentle brush from my nail just wasn't cutting it, not to mention having backlash completely throw your tool off whack with one bad stroke.

This is the first tool of this caliber that I've owned and I can see why it's so effective. The thumb indentations help with the grip, it's got a great heft to it, the nose plate is adjustable forward and backward to adjust for different exit widths, there are 2 set screws on either side of the blade to center and lock the blade in. But the thing that I didn't even realize was a thing when I bought this was the blade depth adjuster...being able to dial in a hairs width thickness with a simple twist is exactly the type of adjustability I've been looking for in a tool that requires this much precision.

I picked up the model with the A2 blade because I didn't want to spend my evening resharpening blades...it comes out of the factory already scary sharp, but I have a norton 1k/8k stone to touch up the primary edge when needed.

I just laid down a few practice strips to start planing and I think I have the technique down, just working up the courage to actually work on one of my scarfed strips :)

Yay progress!