+icespeckledhens Yes I think they used a lower angle than 30 but I've never actually seen a Norris blade that has not been reground. All the best, David.

You should never need an infill plane, pattern or wood, even made by yourself can perform the same with enough tuning skill.

The Spiers planes are very similar in structure to the norris plane but mainly lacked the micro adjuster. The Baily plane is a carpenter's plane. These planes work great with lower tolerance requirements and softer woods like your coniferous species. The Baily patent actually had two forms... the std Baily and the Bed Rock. Lie Nielsens are based on the Bed Rock. But I have found the Baily micro adjuster to get sluggish at higher pitches. The Baily has a wide mouth and a 45 degree (common) pitch. The norris was often a york pitch or better and had a much smaller mouth. Not all norris adjusters are the same. Some had right hand and left hand threads leading to lash in the system. I like a dual thread, solid spindle. The use of a "hammer" to precisely adjust your plane projection is better than most think. I use a small brass hammer to softly adjust machinist's buttons to within ONE HALF of ONE thousandths of an inch when making plane parts in my tool room shop. Spiers was a son of a cabinet maker who began making planes and was one of the first to use dovetailed plane construction methods to make bench planes. How "smooth" a plane cuts is often dependent on how the plane glides and how it absorbs the higher frequency shrill of the cut process. An infill plane is acoustically dead and more so than a cast iron plane. After time, you will be able to both feel the difference and hear the difference with your eyes closed. The bed rock design was an attempt to improve on the Baily short comings in this regard without going to the complexity and expense of building an infill style plane. The infill planes are best suited for final, hyper precise work and not really the initial shaping work. IF (*a big if in the day of electric jointers and planers) your going to flatten a piece of do for a project, you should be able to use a "scrub" plane or badger to hawg down to the basic dimensions as soon as possible and then use the bailey to zero in. Lastly, you use the infill plane for that final Gossamer Shaving leaving you with a surface unlike any other surface prep method. NOTHING BEATS AN INFILL PLANE FOR FINAL SURFACE! The infill plane is truly a super precise, yet hand operated, tool. Wooden planes need lots of work and need to be cared for. But they have a different feel, sound and cut than a metal plane or a cast iron plane. In the right hands, they perform very well.

Well said. Also The English Woodworker has several videos on the subject. Strictly *amateur beginner oriented*.

A bailey plane will do final surface work at least as well as a norris, but it does take a user with enough skill to set the cap iron properly (which isn't that much skill - there just aren't enough competent instructors willing to teach a beginner to do it). On top of that, the adjuster mechanism is superior in a bailey, especially for fine work. Norris adjusters are pleasing to look at, but as a matter of practicality, way too coarse. For what it's worth, the norris planes work fine on thin shavings without a cap iron set, but they are a far more capable plane with the cap iron set properly, too. That includes the old ones.

David W: I am not sure just what type of Norris plane you have, but to say the adjustment in "course" is the exact opposite to the facts, the two thread adjuster was designed for the specific purpose of giving a fine and precise adjustment, one turn being divided between two threads.

The concern of price is a good bet. Most tradesmen did their job to feed their family, and did what was efficient to put food on the table and keep the client satisfied. There really is no point to pay three times as much on a handplane when you'll end up sanding everything anyway and apply thick sloppy coats of varnish.

@@iotaje1 sanding everything away? Lol what. Finish right off the hand plane dude

@@tylersmith9868 Historically once sandpaper became affordable, what was used the most for finishing?