Dave (Arlington, VA)
Sorry for the delay getting back to you all. I was away this weekend spending time with a couple of our college kids before they hit finals and papers due.

I burnished the blade and messed around with both the blade and the plane some and when I tried next I got nice shavings. I'm inclined to chalk it up to burnishing the blade, but there could have been (easily) some user error involved, as well..

In any case, it's working fine now and I'm quite pleased. Thank you all for your comments and helpful suggestions. Now I can pick back up where I was on the project.

Dave