You can drop a Lie Nielsen plane on the floor and it'ill be all right, as the're made from ductile iron.
I believe Lee valley's Veritas tools and Quangsheng's Wood river, are made from the same stuff.
I own a LN 60 1/2 and its absolutely soo perfect...
Lie-Nielsen planes work straight out of the box...
I did lap the back of the iron to mirror polish, and that's no easy task ON A2 steel,
with only a very fine dia-sharp DMT stone...(I should buy an Ultex or more expensive hone for this)
My Stanley Bailey planes do everything I ever asked them to do
I made sure I bought good'uns
Horses for courses
Japanese white steel chisels and Veritas PMV-11 are raved about quite often ...
Rob Cosman has a new line of chisels too
I see you have quite a few posts ...
Wondering why you ask, when I imagine you are probably well aware of the answer ?
Tom