Most notorious is my 4 1/2 which simply refuses to take a consistent cut. I really want to like it, but it's making it hard on me. I think it needs a hock.
My #4-1/2, type 6, makes a much better and more consistent cut since the sole was lapped.
I have used both Hock blades and Stanley blades in most of my Stanley bench planes. The thickness of the Hock blade does dampen the feel during the cut. My Hock blades are the High Carbon version. The A2 may retain the edge longer, I do not have experience with them.
A lot of my Stanley blades have been bears to get flat backs. Even I will use the ruler trick on some of these. Many times the problem is not with the original manufacturing of the blade, but the last user 50 - 100 years ago who put it away after taking some shavings off of damp wood that left a bundle of rust and pitting all over the blade.
It is possible in an untuned plane, the stiffness of the thicker iron may be able to improve performance. The thicker blade is most likely just covering up some of the short comings of a plane that has not been optimized for its best performance.
A lot of problems can be caused by the chip breaker. A chip breaker making contact only in the center may allow a blade to resonate, which translates into chatter. There are a lot of things going on in the world of physics in relation to how far from the cutting edge the chip breaker is seated.
If the chip breaker is bent to increase its spring, it can lift the blade to the point of not seating properly on the frog. This can decrease performance. Having the frog set too far back can cause a similar situation. I have seen many frogs that suffered from pitting or poor machining. A proper lapping of the frog's face and bedding can also improve performance.
I do find the Hock HC blades slightly better than Stanley blades. The Hock chip breaker is a much better chip breaker than the Stanley chip breaker. A properly tuned Stanley chip breaker will perform as well as the Hock. Some times better is not just the end performance, but the quality of the item. I do not foresee having to tune many Hock chip breakers.
jim
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)