Google ‘CAP theorem’.
https://towardsdatascience.com/cap-theorem-and-distributed-database-management-systems-5c2be977950e
It’s a bit like speakers, efficiency, bass extension, small size - pick any two. Same with distributed databases - you can have any two of consistency, availability or partition tolerance.
I’ll get Mrs VB onto it. She was an Oracle DBA for a while.
VB
Ah, well old school ACID compliant RDBMS like Oracle are a different thing again. 
Oi, be careful what you call Mrs VB !
A Record and Acorn 5 and a smaller Acorn.
Are these worth messing with? Or should I just look for a Stanley? (Or buy shiny shiny)
Just go for the Stanley. Those ones just aren’t as good. They copied the Stanley pattern and were cheaper alternatives.
You can find good Stanley’s that the collectors aren’t interested in and get away with lapping in the base and replacing the blade with a better one by Hock, LN, Clifton and a host of others. When lapping in and checking with blue you want to see the front, rear and the bit around the mouth all showing flat as a minimum. Lots of YouTube guides on this process.
Ill probably clean up the record as it was my Grandfather’s, I will keep a look out for a 4 1/4 Stanley. (or buy shiny)
I doubt walnut does that 
I like Japanese pull saws, but the planes aren’t shiny enough.
What I really need to do instead of buy tools is build a shed 
Then I would have a place to use (well, display) all the shiny tools.
There’s a great shop on Facebook where I got a number of old Stanley planes from, plus a few other bits and pieces. He’s got masses of old tools, and his pricing is excellent:
To be honest most of my wood based project fail at the buy wood stage.
I’d like to make a few nice boxes, jewellery/humidor/watch box etc.
Buying decent hardwood just seems like hassle
Sourcing anything other than oak or pine where I am seems to be mission impossible. It’s bloody infuriating. I do at least like oak, but variety really is the spice of life.
aha that just reminded me, I’ve got another bit of bamboo worktop arriving next week, for part 2 of refurb kitchen
Pretty much what Bob says, I bought a 2,4, 4 1/2 and 5 (early Stanley) as a job lot on ebay for about £100 and still use them daily with the original blades apart from the no. 4 in which I use a E.A Berg blade (Swedish steel) which is a very nice. I have got a lot of others from LN, Veritas, HNT Gordon and some nice Japanese planes which I predominantly use, certainly smoothers and a Tsunesaburo might set you back £120 ish but a great place to start with Japanese tools…however I slowly moved into Japanese tools as it’s a whole new and different discipline and a good start would be Toshio Odate’s book before you start to buy anything. Don’t forget Veritas planes, similar price to the LN but imo better planes, also managed to get a Norris A5 plane on Ebay at £180 and that to is good but a lottery really and collectors are all over it. Sharpening is the key, have a look at the sorby sharpener, I would have got one but went with water wheel (Tormek T8) but that wasn’t cheap, Bob uses the Sorby.
Thanks Simon, an older Stanley seems like the best place to start. If I ever use it I will get more shiny.
Since my holiday in July will likely be cancelled, I suppose I could build my workshop
Inspiration…
There is nothing the Stanley won’t do just as well tbh, keep it sharp and you’ll be fine.
I have a 10x16 ft shed that needs to be pulled down and rebuilt. It should give me enough space for my CNC router, lathe, table saw, some benches etc.
I did buy a book on Oak Framing today, not a good sign.
I’m envious you have the opportunity and oak frame would be exactly where I would go if I could. More inspiration, these scale models would take several years to complete before construction of the real thing.
I thought he said he had a shed, not a pagoda 
