Schtoo
Bill,

If you ever manage to get a piece of highly figured wood planed smooth and clean, and then add a clear finish to that surface and can then compare a similar piece of wood that's been sanded (even to a very high grit), the difference in appearance is so obvious it's painful.

And anyone can see the difference.

But in regular, well behaved woods, the difference isn't so great. In those cases, you'd have to ask an experienced eye to spot which was which.

Kind of ironic that the stuff that's more difficult to get planed cleanly and is more likely to be sanded for safety is where the biggest benefit to planing smooth lies.

I'm not saying a sanded surface is inherently ugly or lacking. I've sanded more show surface area than I've planed by a large factor, and have even sanded a planed surface to balance the appearance of the pieces even though the visual difference was small (plain wood).

I don't think that the wonder and amazement of the chip breaker (I don't give a ^&%$%^ what you want to call it, it's a chip breaker to me) is going to be the magic bullet for planing that many seem to want it to be. It's another arrow in the quiver for sure, but there's some wood that no matter how technically perfect the equipment might be, you still need an experienced eye, head and hands to get the stuff planed with any success.

Or in other words, I'd not be selling any stock in sandpaper companies just yet.

Just my take on it.

Stu.