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

Excellent tool

Although this plane worked right out the box it does actually need a fair bit of setup. However for I beginning plane I think that is a good idea as you learn a lot about plane setup and maintenance as you do it. The sole and sides are not finished smooth however as the plane body is still releasing the tensions from manufacture I do not regard this as a problem as at around sixth months from purchase it will need the sole and sides to be ground flat anyway. The only downside of the plane are the plastic handles. These shatter very easily. I dropped mine on the floor within a week of purchase and as a result had to carve a replacement tote out of some scrap wood I had to hand. However once properly set up this plane is as good as a pre war vintage one.

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.

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!

This is my first hand plane, but I've read a lot before buying it. So, i decided to get a cheap Stanley firstly for training myself in tune it up. For sure, it was a good decision, because it was a lot of tuning to do. First of all, the sole wasn't flat at all. It required about 1 1/2 hours of flattening.The frog must be flatten to - another half an hour. The chip breaker must be trimmed off to eliminate gaps. The mouth must be filed out in order to let the shaving out. Off course, the iron must be sharpen and honed (finally I bought another 3.1 mm thick Juuma blade for best results and I kept the original as a spare). The most annoying issue was that the frog simply didn't stay parallel with the mouth - the alignment tab is really useless because doesn't guide the frog at all. It was a matter of 'eyeballing' for setting the blade parallel with the throat and it still is.The frog didn't sit firmly against the plane body, there were only a few square millimeters of contact between them. I've tried to increase the contact surface by rubbing the frog back and forth against the plane,using oil and lapping grit. Now it seams that the body supports the frog with all the intended surface and the rocking was eliminated (i have some pictures if needed), but the frog still doesn't slide parallel with body sides when acting the adjustment screw. So the final setup is somehow a matter of eyeballing. The blade adjustment screw has about 2-3 revolutions of dead heat, but as far as it is my first hand plane, i don't know if this behavior is normal or not. Now I can use it chatter free and it works smoothly but only in softwood. I don't know how it will work with some hardwoods. Definitely, could be a good choice for someone who wants to learn what a hand plane is and how to set it up !

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.

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

Arrived next day on prime. Nicely made and finished as what you would expect from Stanley. The main grip is of course composite plastic and not wooden so the the feel and grip is slightly compromised but I knew if would be. I will used it only occasionally so I'm happy with that. Ive tried it out and it performs as I would expect.