Great service, but the 5-1/2 I received was not quite as pictured
Bought my plane about 1.5 months ago. It arrived clean with an impeccably well sharpened blade. The sole and sides were indeed flat to within 0.0015" (I estimate within 0.0005" for the sole, actually). The sole was adequately finely ground, but the sides were only coarsely ground (not as shown in the picture) and 0.003" off square (using a Starrett square, as well as 1-2-3 blocks to confirm) relative to the sole over their heights (the plane was parallelogram shaped, so it was obviously placed in the grinder incorrectly). The rough grind of the sides created unnecessary wear on of my shooting boards, and the sides being out of square required having to make notable blade lateral adjustments when going from shooting to straight planing.
This said, rather than complain (the promptness of delivery for this and an earlier purchase, and the condition of this plane other than the sides was great), and having to fine-tune nearly every other plane that I own except for one, the issues with the sides were easily resolved following about an hour of lapping (the right side only) with 120 grit sanding belts (only needed 2) that I cut open and double-sided taped to my table saw (a 1970's Delta Unisaw that I confirmed flat to within 0.0005", surprisingly, using a surface plate), and a carbide scraper (old school surface flattening tool) to remove some initial rounding over of the side that was created during the first round of lapping. Followed by 150 grit and 220 grit sanding belts used in the same manner, I could no longer see any light at all under my Starrett on the right side of the plane. Now going from shooting to straight planing gives perfectly square results with no lateral adjustments needed.
So all-in-all, while not exactly perfect and not quite as pictured, I don't mind "familiarizing" myself with my planes' workings, and I'm very pleased with this Rob Cosman purchase (as with my first). So if I could give this as a 4-1/2 to 4-3/4 review, I would.
I'll add that I also purchased a shooting grip along with my 5-1/2. I installed it just yesterday evening and I'm kicking myself for not having done so earlier.... it's a great addition to this plane, and which I also plan to set up for use with my 5-1/4 Veritas for use on my shorter shooting board, but will likely be mostly using my WoodRiver 5-1/2 because I prefer its blade depth and lateral adjustments over a Norris style adjuster.
