General purpose plane recommendations

Kent,

First congrats on seeing the light! Working with hand tools is very enjoyable (except for that sharpening business) plus there's no noise, no dust. It's often even a faster process than setting up a powered rig.

However, there is to answer to your question. There's simply no one plane that can do it all, not even in a pinch. You first have to decide which tasks will be most critical to you, and that might mean looking at your current shop and seeing which tasks are not covered well by you powered tools. I HIGHLY recommend that you adjust your expectations here, and consider going home with at least 2 or 3 items. (plus some kind of sharpening rig. At an absolute minimum, you'll need an 8K stone.)

Short of knowing this, some of the most essential tools:
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A smoother, meaning something in the 8" - 12" range, with a non-cambered blade set for a light cut. Your sandpaper will now last a lot longer.

A jack or try plane, for removing more stock quickly. - You could theoretically not have one, at least in the beginning, but doing this job with a soother will get old really fast. Plus, you'll end up spending too much time re-honing the blade. Plus, the jack plane's blade should have a medium camber, which the smoother does not. (You see? what you CAN use and what will give you proper service are two different things.)

A low angle block plane, used primarily for trimming end grain, but also useful for small touch ups here & there.

(And already, neither of these can really do the job of the other one.)

A Jointer, but only if you intend to flatten the edges of long boards by hand. Jointers can be helpful also with flattening table tops etc but they are far from essential.

A pair of winding sticks. (You can also just make your own.) - Essential for face-planing larger stock.

A couple of very good hand saws. - I personally prefer Japanese style, but LN sells some lovely western saws that will serve you very well.

Last on my personal list of "absolutely essential" items is a shooting board, so you can cut oversized, then sneak-up on the final dimensions. (especially with miters.) A shooting PLANE is great to have also, but NOT essential.

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General purpose plane recommendations