Replacement blade and chip breaker
#15
Blades for Stanley bench planes vary in quality. Those in my shop were made between about 1870 until 1950. That's a long span and it is hard to generalize but most Stanley blades are pretty good. The best I have found are the laminated blades from the 1930s. Sometimes rust and pitting can affect quality. My gripes are thickness and hardness--or rather the lack thereof. Stanley bench plane blades were made for carpenters and those guys needed something that was inexpensive and quick to sharpen. So there you go.

I made my own blades that were thicker (3/32 instead of 1/16) and harder. Those function well and do not require any plane modifications. I have Stanley planes with original blades but they do not see much use. My go to planes are the ones with my blades and my LN planes with super thick blades.

When you use a thicker blade, you immediately notice the difference. I know of many who have upgraded their blades but have not heard one case of someone who chucked the upgraded blade and went back to a Stanley original.
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#16
Politics 
Like Jim, I have found Stanley irons to be of varying quality and I never cared for their chipbreakers; they are too soft and flexible for my taste. I replaced all of my bench plane irons and chipbreakers with Lie-Nielsen A2s a number of years ago and I've been very pleased. My only conplaint was that I found the A2 irons difficult to sharpen. I could get a decent edge with my standard sharpening gear (oil stones and a leather strop), but I could never get the hair-popping edge I get with O1 steel. I solved that problem recently by adding a cast iron plate charged with 3 micron diamond paste to my sharpening regimen. Now I'm a happy camper. I think the thicker replacement irons and chipbreakers add significantly to a plane's performance.
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#17
I have Hock blades and chip-breakers in my vintage Stanley's.  My experience is that the biggest improvement is with a aftermarket chip breaker. Others may disagree, and I do know how to fit a chip breaker properly. Through some trial and error, I have experienced the greatest improvement with the chip-breaker, then additional improvement with a Hock blade. 

My daily go-to plane is a old #5 with a Hock blade and chip-breaker. It performs just as well as my LN bronze #4, so well that I rarely pull out the LN #4.
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#18
since LV had free shipping, I was thinking about getting a V11 and chipbreaker for one of my planes.  Maybe next free shipping time.
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