I have a little thumb plane and Ian re did the blade in that for the previous owner NeilS before I bought it . I assume its the 1084? It is fantastic. I haven't had to sharpen it yet and its done a fair bit of nice work as it is so far.
To re bit that Norris blade would be a good way to go. Add a new hard end to it and blend it in by welding and then hammering it in while red hot. Welds vanish doing this. Do it to keep the blade and body together and nice and original. A bit more of a fiddle than making a whole new blade in that you have to weld some 01 or possibly 1084 to the Norris blade after cutting back the suspect steel .
Ive been reading about it but not tried it on a parallel blade yet . The recommended weld is with nickel rods for the 01. And keep everything hot prior to welding and right through the quench and temper stages. Don't let it cool and get stressed. Ive got to try it out.
I have stalled on my mitre plane build at the blade making as the oven and the workshop are separated by 100 meters and I was thinking of welding 01 to mild steel for that blade. Or maybe ill just go all 01 and no weld?
Years ago I did a re bit on an old Stanley SW blade with a new Stanley cutting end from Bunnings. I kept the new hard end wet in sand and did the join and blend further back. Had to make a jig to hold it all straight. It worked well and the work on it couldn't be detected.