Reply by David Kirtley

The biggest problem is that when they marketed metallic planes, they didn’t really make planes that followed traditional plane forms. Strictly speaking, there is no equivalent for a fore plane or jack plane in the modern bench planes, only planes of similar size. This is mainly due to the availability of dimensional stock. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, all the bench planes have been basically finishing planes. Other than size, there is no real difference from #1 all the way to #8 with the Bailey pattern of modern planes. Wooden planes on the other hand had different shapes, angles, mouth arrangements and ways of holding them. They came in single and double irons. They had all manner of auxiliary nickers and some had multiple irons as well. They were also quite different depending on their country of origin.

-- Woodworking shouldn't cost a fortune: http://lowbudgetwoodworker.blogspot.com/