I have a few older bench planes (#s 3, 4, 5, and 6), mostly Stanley, that I bought off eBay, and I’ve learned that even rusty, cheap planes can be made into good users with some time and effort. I’ve seen (but don’t own) some old planes that looked so good that I don’t know how any plane, including a brand-new LN, could be any better.

On the other hand, it seems that the newer versions of some planes – such as the Veritas or LN low angle, adjustable mouth block planes – are notably superior to the older Stanley models. Obviously, I could be wrong about that (this is pretty new to me), but the only new plane I have is a Veritas LA block (my "reward" for staying smoke-free for 30 days), and it is the nicest hand tool of any type that I've ever owned. With this particular type of plane, I cannot imagine that I could have ever taken an old one and gotten it into anywhere near the condition of my new one.

I'm thinking about getting some additional planes (surprise, surprise!) - maybe a 112-type scraper, a 4-1/2, a 5-1/2, a 7 or 8 - and I can't decide whether to buy old and cheap or new and pricey. Obviously, the decision involves a time vs. money trade-off – i.e., if one plane costs $50 and 3 hours, but works as well (or even almost as well) as a very pretty brand new one that costs $300 and 15 minutes, then which is preferable? The answer to that question is going to vary from person to person. Yogi Berra might say that “nobody can agree on that, unless they agree on that.” SO, THAT IS NOT MY QUESTION.

My question is: OTHER THAN TIME VS. MONEY TRADE-OFF, IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR REASON (SUCH AN ADVANCES IN A PARTICULAR DESIGN, MANUFACTURING PROCESSES, OR MATERIALS) TO BUY THE NEW LN OR VERITAS VERSION OF A SPECIFIC PLANE, RATHER THAN AN OLDER, USED MODEL MADE BY STANLEY, SARGENT, MF, ETC. ? If so, is it true across the board – i.e., a new LN model is better than every equivalent Stanley – or just true for particular models (maybe true for LA blocks, scraper planes, and shoulder planes, but not true for smoothers and jack planes)? Why? What makes the new one better?