I picked up a new Wood River no. 3 smoother a few weeks ago and am generally pretty satisfied with it. It is the V3 model. Fred Skelly did a review of this plane and the thread seemed to go on for about a year and a half here. I generally agree with his thoughts. Here's the link to that discussion:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...od+River+plane
There's some confusion about the steel in the cutter of this plane though. I emailed the seller, Woodcraft, and they answered my question this way: "The included blades are just high carbon steel. They are not designated as either A2 or O1" and that's what their catalog listings say. Yet, Rob Cosman, a seller of the Wood River planes, on his website says they are A2 steel. Some older threads on this subject here on SMC made reference to Mn65 steel. Just curious if there has been any new info on this.