I have been thinking of buying a small shoulder plane for some time, & decided to take a leap & buy the new Veritas plane, which arrived yesterday.

The plane is nicely made & finished and only requires a wipe to remove rust preventative and a polish with wax.

The Blade is A2 steel but you can choose O1 if you prefer. Flattening of the back is done very well indeed and the blade could be used out of the box. I gave the back a few seconds on an 8000 grit stone & honed a 1 degree microbevel on the 8000 stone followed by a few swipes on a piece of MDF with chrome polish. The plane takes very fine cuttings on Oak & Cedar with ease.

I particularly like the set screws that hold the blade central in the body as this prevents the blade moving out of square when adjusting the depth of cut, which other planes are prone to do.

I also like the adjustable toe which is very accurate and allows the mouth to be set very fine or opened up for coarser shavings.

The lever cap doubles as a hand rest and is comfortable, but I found this a little too high as it pushes the grip a bit too far away from the cutting edge for my liking, when using it single handed.

The only blemish was some of the black finish on the lever cap was flacking off, but this was out of sight hidden by the body of the plane, and if this does not spread will not be an issue for me.

You can see photos and detailed description at
Veritas® Small Shoulder Plane - Lee Valley Tools

If you need a small shoulder plane I think the veritas is excellent value

Regards