Don't know if this will help. I use a cheapo Draper honing guide. In the top photo you can see that I filed the top surfaces flat-ish, because the guide straight out of the packet just isn't flat, so the blade won't sit right. Still, it was under a tenner.
On the pack it gives the measures to protrude the blade out of the guide for 25 and 30 degrees, for plane and chisel. I made up a template up out of scrap so I don't have to read a ruler. I can't see the numbers anyway. It's not my idea - I got it from somewhere, probably Paul Sellers. But it takes all the guesswork out of trying to get the blade at the right sticky outy measure for the guide, and makes sure that your sticky outy is always more or less consistent without having to hold three tiddly little things at the same time.
In the second photo my Record 5 1/2 is weighing the jig down while I stick the blade in the honing guide, using the edge of the plywood as my reference edge and the block of hardwood as my depth stop. I just noticed that my Record plane blade isn't in square - must mean the frog is out of alignment.
My go to long edge plane is the Stanley no 7, which I love to bits. It's heavy, but it's a joy to use. I spent the time to true up the sole, which was already fairly good IIRC, so if you get one with a badly warped sole, I would send it back with a raspberry.
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