Cosidering your planer question, here is link to my website showing mine, which I use regularly in my work.
Untitled Document
I find myself using it more often than my universal mill, as a matter of fact. It is more versitile, makes a better finish, uses less expensive tooling (which can be ground to specific shapes as needed) and can cut harder material. It is slow, but since machining is usually not my production work, that is not as big an issue as it would be otherwise. This one is rather old (1870 ish) but still will hit 1/2 thousandth when it needs to. Anyway, I thought you might like to see one in a shop where it is still making a living. Good luck finding one. They are out there, you just need to wait for the right one to come your way.
Joel