joelmoskowitz
Steve,
I like wooden planes I really do. You make fine planes. My comments are historical not modern. I was referring to bench planes in general not smoothing planes in particular.
IIRC The literature refers specifically to longer planes not smoothers - I need to dig it out. But my point about the dearth of old and usable wooden smooth planes still stands. Of the bench planes they were the most common model used, but not many survive from the per-industrial period in usable shape.