Plane advise: LN 140?

[Lewis Moon]

I am about to purchase several planes I have been looking at and just wanted to avail myself of the fruit of the collected wisdom of this board.
Should I get a LN 140 skew block or wait for the LV 289 to come out this spring? I already own several shoulder planes and an LV Plow Plane.
Is the 140 that useful?

[Roger Bell]

Each plane has a different function.

The 289 is a much better working 78 with a skewed iron. It is designed for cutting longer rabbets. I have had mine for years and it is hands down better than the 78. It is good that LV is bringing that back. Hopefully they will do a better job with the fence than the Stanley.

The 140 is a block plane, and as such is not as well suited at a rabbet plane for cuts in longer stock. It is better for end grain work, with its skewed iron. And you can skew the iron of a regular block plane by skewing the plane itself as you use it. You could use it for shoulder work, I suppose, but a shoulder plane is better suited for that task.

[Don C Peterson]

I have one and like it quite a bit for certain things. I don't think it quite takes the place of a shoulder plane, but most shoulder planes aren't skewed and lack nickers and adjustable fences. The fence is usually off of my plane as the 140 is just too small in the hand to use for rabbeting. My 140gets the most use for cleaning up endgrain joints like dovetails and box joints and it does a very nice job.

I wouldn't classify the 140 as a workhorse, but it certainly does get used in my shop...