When I find a short iron, I usually think that its previous owner didn't know how to sharpen the iron properly and wore it away by abuse, not use. May not be the case, but thats always my first thought.
Jim
You n me Jim
I have a SW #3 I have been using 30 years now. Probably more.
It still has 90% of its iron, and I baby it, but not all that bad.
Man that 5.5 is going to be sweet!!
I had a 605 1/2 once, but it got lost. I sent it to a really early restorer (before I had ever re-japanned a tool of my own) and the guy had the bad manners to go and get himself killed in a freak accident. Moving truck backed over him.
An early Bedrock round side 605 1/2 and a later slab side 604 1/2C were both lost.
Still sad about that occasionally.
yours Scott