If you prefer the overall size of a #4 but hanker for more weight, then the Grizzly Legacy might be what you’re looking for. It’s 13% heavier than a standard #4 while the same width and only marginally (1/8″) longer. If you regularly use your #4 for shooting end grain, then you’ll appreciate the extra weight of the Legacy.

The Legacy has a nicely machined Bailey-type frog set at a standard frog angle of 45°.

The frog is easy to adjust if you want to tighten up the throat, though not as convenient to adjust as the design of some other hand planes. However, it’s fairly quick to do so. You simply loosen two small outer screws and then advance or retrace the frog by turning the middle (lower) screw. Removing the blade depth adjustment wheel (as done in the photo below) makes it easier to get at the screws.

The sides (cheeks) of the plane are made of anodized aluminum, possibly to keep the overall weight down. The ductile cast-iron sole is not perfectly flat – as it rarely is on just about any hand plane. However, the only sole dips about .04mm (.0016″) about halfway between the toe and heel – which I can comfortably live with. As long as the area directly in front of the mouth and directly behind it is flat, you’re ready to go.

The blade is key to optimal plane performance. The thick high speed steel blade is well machined and has a 45° bevel. The back of the blade is sufficiently flat and doesn’t require any remedial flattening, though the bevel does require honing for optimal cutting performance.

A nice feature on this plane is that you can adjust the position of the handle and the front knob to better accommodate the size of your hands. On the handle, you just remove two bolts and then reposition the handle forward or backward. On the knob there is only a single bolt. That front hand is 2″ wide affording a secure grip.

The Legacy comes with a pair of depth stop guides you attach to both sides of the plane (i.e. the cheeks) – its the only smoothing plane that I know of with this feature.  The depth stops enable you to use the plane as a thicknesser – the guides can be set from 1/8″ to 1-5/8″ in 1/4″ increments. Installing the guides is straight forward – my only complaint is that you need to use a 3/32″ hex key to remove the bolts on the cheeks and a 1/8″ hex key to install the bolts that hold the guides in place – a bit of a bother. Because the depth stops are not offset, they’re really not that useful as a fence to help you shoot more accurate and consistently square edges.

After honing the blade and adjusting it on the plane, I could take very fine cuts on Ash, White Oak and Walnut. The plane works well planing edge grain and when finish planing across a wide panel. And, with the blade well-honed it did an admirable job on end grain.

A #4 bevel-down smoothing plane is a fundamental tool that most woodworkers will want to own, as it can tackle most day-to-day planing jobs in the shop. If you find the heavier weight of a smoother appealing, then I believe the Grizzly Legacy will meet your expectations.