Steve Voigt
Moving on from the topic of planes and blades for a moment:

Warren's post above is the sort of thing most beginners would see and their eyes would just glaze over. They want concrete specifics, like "should I buy the low angle jack or a dedicated shooting plane?" And I get that, I'm sure I was the same way when I started, thankfully before the advent of forums like this one.

But really, Warren's post is the whole ballgame. It's a manual, in one paragraph, for how to be a good craftsman. If you have that discernment, and an ability to form hypotheses and follow through on them, and a decent pair of hands, everything else ought to fall into place.