John in NM
How does one define "finest"? Of new tools like you describe, marketed to hobbyist woodworkers and tool collectors, finest clearly has a strong component of aesthetics. In terms of making a piece of wood flat and smooth, ready to finish, the aesthetics of the tool used are completely irrelevant.

I think this is what you see in the plane maker's use of a mill and sandpaper - probably that is the faster way for him to cut the wood to his needed specifications. Presumably he is making infill parts rather than a furniture panel - that would be horribly slow with a milling machine. For making infill parts I would argue that he might have been doing it most efficiently with the mill and sandpaper - I've made wood parts that way myself.

So the question becomes whether we accept such relativism in defining the words that make up people's marketing claims. I tend to, but I can understand how you might not think it acceptable.