About a month ago I finished one of the Knight smoother plane kits and have been using it here and there. Here it is. I have used it on hardwood (gnarly cocobolo) and soft and it works great (although I did get some small chips on the blade edge when I hit some twisted grain on the coco).
I dont know if Steve is still making these kits but I believe these are a great value.You can get the performance of a high dollar plane for a fraction of what one should cost. I would reccommend that you know how to properly tune a wooden plane before you buy one. Also that you know what makes a wooden plane perform well. The biggest tip of all is to let the kit set a month or so in your shop before you put it together to make up for any wood movement.
The plane is purpleheart with an ipe (I guess) sole. I added a strike button on the top but just for looks as I have been beating on the back side of the plane to adjust depth.
This one has a new home...Time to start on the razee smoother. I would appreciate the others that got the kits to post pictures and their thoughts on the planes.