STANLEY No. 4 Bailey Bench Plane, 1-12-2004

It's a Stanley, so it works, it's stable, it's reliable.Having spent 20GBP on a cheap "Pound Shop" own brand plane, ones sees where the extra money goes on a quality product from a quality manufacturer. And one does not regret it. My "cheap" plane is now wedging the workshop door open (it's about all it's any use for.)There's an old adage "buy cheap, buy twice" - at least when it comes to tools. Lesson learned.Hand plane obsessives and/or collectors will no doubt opine that the totes are plastic and not wood, and this and that are some micrometers too big/small, the quality of the cutting iron , etc. - but for an average "handyman" (or woman or non gendered specific individual,) this just gets the job done.Like all planes (and cutting tools generally,) even "new" it will benefit from a bit of "setting up" - e.g. lap the base, soften/bevel the edged, sharpen the iron, check everything is lubricated - I also like to sand down the mould seems on the totes for extra comfort - but once done it's a joy to use. For newbies, there's plenty of YouTube vids showing how to set up a plane.

This is a straight forward no nonsense Stanley plane however it does have its quirks!Let's start with the good....Once set up properly this plane is an absolute dream to use, I have successfully managed to get whispy shavings from both long grain and end grain. Jointing boards takes minutes with proper technique and patience.The sole of the plane was also perfectly flat which was nice as I was dreading lapping such a large plane.The bad...This plane DOES NOT come set up. It took me about 3 hours of sharpening and fettling to get it to work as desired. The chipbreaker needs to be bent a little more to provide a more positive fit which then also requires grinding flat.None of the fittings were tight upon arrival so make sure you check the frog etc for tightness.The plane handle and tote are not the best but do work as needed however I had to slightly grind notches into the bottom of the tote to make it index correctly on the plane.The plane iron was quite rough but that wasn't to hard to grind and sharpen as it was already set to 25 degrees.Finally the plane didn't come in OEM packaging which although inst necessary would've been a nice touch.In conclusion...This is a good plane once set up correctly. I have yet to come across a plane at the price range that doesnt have issues. Just be prepared to put the leg work in to make it work correctly and you will end up with a keeper.

I bought this plane knowing it isn't top of the range but it was at the limit of my price range! I'm not disappointed and am really enjoying using it. It is well made, solid and good quality. I'm a novice plane-user and felt a little daunted by it, as I'd read negative reviews which said how long it took to set up.I think the key is, accept you need to spend a good bit of time setting it up before use, but enjoy learning about it too.Firstly the blade needs honing from 25° to 30°. And to do that you'll need to learn all components. Instructions are OK, but not ideal. So I checked out Matt Estleas YouTube channel, one of his videos titled "how to get silky smooth shavings from a plane". He has in fact 7 videos on settings up planes. He explains everything brilliantly and now my plane is set up perfectly❤️ It took a couple of hours perhaps but they were well spent and very pleasant!

The media could not be loaded. This is an affordable plane , blade needs sharpening. I really have no negative comments. After setup ,I tried it on oak and it performed beyond my expectations... see video attached

sole & frog ok, overal quality i would say average, (some poorly casted bits, some stuff made from cheap sheet metal ), blade pain to sharpen (grinder may be iseful for this) plastic handles, chip breaker waste to speek about. it does the job after long setup work though. may be getting just a kanna iron and build naga dai kanna or shelf out £350 for veritas or lie nielsen plane make sense in this case. use for rough jobs definitely not for finishing.

Toyed with the idea of an electric plane, but reviews so good for this product, and I remember my dad having a quality plane, that I chose this. Please I did. Solid, easy to adjust, nice cut and so much more tactile than an electric.Horses for courses, and I might sway to the dark side in the future for a door bottom, but for delicate jobs and thosse where I want greater control on what I'm doing this fits the bill for all budding joiners

In general it’s a good solid plane - I’m guitar building and using this to achieve very precise gluing edges on a shooting board - and it has done the job - however it looses a star for the awful plastic handle which can’t cope with the weight of the tool and has already broken- sourcing a quality wooden replacement is proving to be a challenge- I may have to make one - which seems like a waste of time...