david weaver
Just kidding!

Laziness led me away from the shooting board. The kind that means I only need to mark a board, put it in the vise, plane it, and if it's not critical, I don't even need to mark both sides.

No switching planes, no walking around. Just plane it. Some of my old woodies have their limitations in terms of wood hardness, but I'm not usually working with them on the end grain, AND I don't use most of the woods that are stringy or porous because they're not pretty and not nice to use with hand tools.

If I wasn't so cheap, I'd buy an XHP (thick) blank and taper the entire thing on the end of the belt sander and put a hollow in it and throw it in a try plane. But, the irons that I have in the try plane now are so dry feeling that they are far too satisfying to sharpen, and they probably still last for a straight half hour of planing before needing a resharpening.

In this end grain test, I would've appreciated blades that lasted half as long or less in end grain so that I could have an excuse to stop and sharpen.

i did buy one .094" since finding out the likely suspect and am curious to see how a shade tree person can quick the hardening and tempering (oil harden in a stainless sleeve and then temper in the oven twice without any of the strict scheduling. XHP's schedule gives a heating range of 150 degrees F, which is wide enough to judge temperature before quench just by eye. There really area a lot of attractive things about it other than the price and limited supply.