The K7 was my reinterpretation of my first infill plane – an early un-handled Spiers smoother. My Spiers has a 2-1/8” wide blade and while it was a workhorse for many years, I always found it to be too wide. It filled out my hand a little too much – holding it in an ‘open’ position. This isn’t an issue on the push stroke, but on the return stroke, you need to close your hand, or ‘pinch’ fairly hard to hold the plane. For a few minutes of planning, this is a non-issue, but for prolonged use, your hand starts to fatigue. Not cool. 

For my medium sized hands, a 1-3/4” wide blade is just about perfect. Wide enough that I can plane a wide surface and not feel like I am going slowly, but narrow enough that I can plane for prolonged periods and not have my hand get tired from gripping. 

The scoop on the front pad is also a functional scoop in that you can place your thumb in it for tasks where you want to watch the shavings or other tasks where this grip is an advantage. For faster paced planning, where your hand covers the pad across the front, the chamfer on the cusp serves an important function (as it does on all larger k-series planes). The cusp catches the thick meaty pad below your thumb allowing for maximum forward force without discomfort.