Every Veritas tool I’ve purchased from Lee Valley has stung when I purchased it. But after I’ve been using the tool for a day or two, I don’t know how I lived without. The combination of design innovation with quality is really impressive.
There are a ton of tools in my garage I have only used once or twice. They're closer to the junk end of the scale and that's just fine. Even at that quality level, it might take me another 20 years to wear out or break them.
You can only bust your knuckles so many times on a cheap ratchet, though, before it just isn't worth it. Cheap blades that snap and chip are terrible too.
Sometimes the price is a complete lie too. The more I think about it, the harder I realize this is.
For me it's veritas for anything with a blade (and incra for anything measurey).
edit: and if I did read it right, share some of your woodworking projects!
Am also lucky enough to have a got a Lie Nielsen plane before they became like gold dust, similar quality but there's something about Veritas designs that I like more.
That being said I have a 1960s Record No 4 I use for a lot of smoothing, old, tatty and the blade doesn't hold an edge for long, but sharpened regularly it can achieve a mirror like finish on most wood - no sanding required.