So here's my dilemma:
I'm fairly new to the hand tool world. Until recently, my usage of hand planes generally resulted in a horribly mangled surface! For many years I felt I just didn't seem to have the knack for a hand plane. I remember as a kid, watching my father produce long "goldielocks" shavings with his planes, a feat I was never able to replicate! After many years and much frustration, I've found my past poor sharpening skills and poor plane setup skills had more to do with my problems than anything else.
As my skills at sharpening have improved, I've found I've been using various planes more and more frequently, often times reaching for a plane whereas previously I'd have grabbed a sander or headed to the jointer.
I have several smoother planes in various lengths, some with cambered irons, some flat. These have been my workhorses to this point and I use them all the time. In addition to the smoothers, I have representatives from the other kinds of planes-- shoulder plane, block plane, radius plane, most of which I inherited from my late grandfather. These specialty planes I use less often but still do see occasional usage.
One notable vacancy in my collection is the Jack plane. Now I've read some descriptions of Jack planes, it seems to my understanding they are considered an all-purpose plane, perhaps due to the lower angle (??) and traditionally used in sequence with other planes to flatten/smooth rough lumber.
Now as I'm not a purist with the hand tools and still rely on my power tools to dimension lumber, is there any real need for a Jack plane, other than to just have one? Does the lower angle on the iron perform a specific task that a smoother plane wouldn't perform as well? As with many here, I too fall under the aegis of "never enough tools" so I doubt it will take much convincing for me to buy another plane but I would like to know that I could conceivably find a particular use for the Jack which none of my other planes could perform quite as well!