After all of the above, how thick of a shaving are you trying to cut?

See if you can get the plane cutting with a minimal shaving thickness before advancing the blade. Once you have the plane taking a good shaving, the blade can be advanced for a thicker shaving.

There are surely those who can take off 1/16" on each pass. Leave that for the weight lifters. Most of the time my shavings aren't much more than 0.010". If you just get to, it not much time is needed to plow a groove 1/4" or more deep.

jtk