Originally Posted by
sean contenti
Undoubtedly.
Another piece of that is knowing what the tool feels like when it's actually working well - and if someone is coming at it totally cold, they won't necessarily be able to tell if they've gotten the plane all the way back to good working order, or or only partially - even if they're the type to be confident diving right in on the rehab.
That's where starting with a well performing plane comes in. If you've got the baseline of "yeah, this is what a plane feels like when it's running sweetly", then the rehab work you put into that second, or third, or Xth plane is going to be that much more successful.
EDIT - Looks like Bill, above, said pretty much exactly what I just did. Oops. Gotta remember to read the whole thread next time...