I agonized over the Stanley 45 vs veritas plow plane, I picked up a 21piece set of blades for the stanley 45 at a garage sale for 5 bucks since they didn't know what they had. I never could find a decent vintage stanley with all of the pieces and in decent shape for a reasonable price so I broke down and got the veritas. I wanted to use my budget on some other items but some things have come up that pushed the projects this is needed for to the front of the line. I'll post pics later once completed.
I picked up the conversion fence for it as well to use wider blades, though I didn't get the full set of blades as that blows out the budget and with everything going on right now I'm having to be a bit more careful.
First Impressions:
Build quality is amazing, well put together well designed piece that's in great shape. Fence moves out evenly with virtually no play in it. I felt very comfortable that the fence was always parallel when I slide it out. The blade shipped very sharp out of the box. I did some test cuts and it cut just fine, I did later hone it on an 8000 grit stone and its now perfect. I've never been a fan of the honing to 15k higher, IMHO from the testing I've done with knives there's no benefit above about 6-8k other than ego.
I've got a few projects in mind to use this for:
1. I'm making a display case for two Disston hand saws.
2. I'm going to use it to make a picture frame for mother's day. I'm going to make more than 1 if time permits.
If anyone is considering buying one of these don't hesitate do it they are a great tool that's outstanding. Veritas/leevalley shipped quickly and was prompt in answering any questions I had. Now to save up some cash for some of the other blades for it.