Another point Adam,

Second tier tools may require the same sort of tuning as an antique to get them to operate properly. The savings in buying them is mitigated by time spent tuning them up plus materials used in the process. I recommend against buying any second tier tools until you are geared up to do some tuning and then you can make the value judgement based on the free time you have to devote to the task. It is probably not worth it in my opinion for a block plane.