Which smoothing plane to buy

[Jared Hendrix]

The 5-1/2 is BD. Unless you're talking about back-beveling (which is somewhat incompatible with a close-set cap iron) there is no option to change the angle with an iron. But as I noted in a previous reply, 45 deg should be adequate with a properly set cap iron.

A question for the OP: What make is your 5-1/2? I'm asking because I'm wondering if there's an option to use a high-angle frog with that plane.

My 5-1/2 is a Stanley, one of the newer ones made in England with plastic handles. The chip-breaker is as close as it can get to the edge of the blade. the blade is slightly cambered, just enough so it doesn't leave plane tracks, so the chip-breaker is set so the corners are immeasurably close to the corners of the blade, there is only slightly more blade exposed in the middle. I get beautiful fluffy shavings from curly maple, i just cant get tearout free results in the walnut where the grain changes direction.

I'd spend the extra $40 on the Lee Valley/Veritas over the Wood River.

It's actually more like an extra $100 . Woodcraft has a 10% coupon they email you when you sign up, and the extra blade is $20. LN is 245 plus 40 for a blade and shipping . Veritas is about the same, but they are out of stock till september

If you can fettle a plane, go for the woodriver #4, and save even more money for chisels!
You asked for woodriver, so I suggest a #4 (which I have, and with very little fettling it is an excellent plane), but if you are willing to try a different maker, the Veritas Bevel Up Smoother or a Custom 4 at a higher angle (50 or 55) would be my first choices. Since you are having issues with tearout, maybe a Custom 4 would be your best bet so you can use a chipbreaker. The quality is the same as a Lie Nielsen (but costs a bit less) and better than a Woodriver.

I hadn't considered the veritas bevel up smoother, but it is also up there in price. By the time i buy an extra blade im close to $300. Id consider a plane with a different angle frog, however, that also ups the price out of my budget.

A 62 with a 40 deg blade is a 52 deg total angle. In my experience that won't do any better in terms of tearount on difficult woods than a close-set cap iron on a 45 deg BD plane. You'd probably want a 50 deg blade (62 deg total angle) if you go the BU route.

With all of that said, how close are you getting the cap iron to the cutting edge? I used to think that 1/64" or so was "close", but I've since come to realize that that's actually too much to control tearout in difficult woods. You need to be at around half of that and sometimes less. A 45 deg bench plane with a truly sharp iron and tight chipbreaker set should be able to handle walnut and African mahogany. I have a 55 deg frog for my #4, but I don't use it much ever since I got serious about learning to use the chipbreaker.

with a 62 i can get the 40 degree blade and put a 5 degree secondary bevel on it, for a total of 57 degrees. from what i've learned, that should tackle difficult grain more easily.
It may very well be that its my blade and chipbreaker that limit me, but im limited with how much i can alter them between uses. I use the 5-1/2 for basically everything. It's my fore plane, my smoothing plane, my everything in between plane right now. I want something that i can leave set up for smoothing all the time. a Dedicated smoothing plane or a 62 where i can easily switch blades and close down the throat, fit that bill.