Stanley 1-12-004 Smooth Plane Bailey No. 4, Multicolor

This is, first and foremost, a Bailey Stanley 4 pattern. It's nice and heavy, with a steel body and a well-machined frog. The iron and cap are of high quality, and the action is smooth. The finish, on the other hand, has suffered as a result of a "classic" Stanley. br>Instead of being made of wood, the handles are made of molded plastic. They're snug and comfortable, so that shouldn't be a problem. br>The body paint is a thick enamel that started flaking off while I was dressing it. We may need to take action sooner rather than later in order to address this. br>Everything is made of rocky soil. The number of tool marks on the body is astounding. Flattening the sole and smoothing the sides took nearly two hours for me. My glass plate was flattened and smoothed with an absurd amount of sandpaper. Right out of the box, the lever cap is incredibly stiff. I removed the roll pin that holds the cam in place and smoothed out the rough sand casting marks (there was some rust there, too), as well as discovering that the hole through which the roll pin passes is drilled a little too snugly. With a round chainsaw file, I opened it up just a hair and lubricated it, and it moved much more smoothly. br>The iron and cap iron (chip breaker to some) are made of a nice heavy steel, and the edge was ground to a precise 25 degree rake, but it was left that way after being ground with a 50 grit stone. The cutting edge had a distinct serration to it. Smoothing, refining, and honing took around 20 minutes. The cap iron required the least amount of refinement, is heavy, and has a very true mating surface with no gaps. The only problem was that the bevel hadn't been ground all the way to the leading edge, leaving a flat step where it met the iron. That was fixed after a few minutes on the diamond plates. The frog was factory set very far back, as if for a scrub plane, so I closed the mouth up a little. br>After that, I reassembled it and tested it on some soft maple, where it produced lovely, wispy, full width shavings with very little fiddling. If the steel holds an edge, this will be a fantastic addition to my tool collection, and I'm confident it will be passed down to future generations of woodworkers.

Elodie Dean

| May 09, 2021

Until I took the blade off, this plane looked great. I should also mention that the blade appeared to be excellent, but when I removed it, the bottom of the frog fell off! This is the second Stanley I've bought in the last week, and both of them have been returned. Stanley used to be known for its high quality, but that is no longer the case.

Kyla MORLEY

| Jun 30, 2021

If you're a prosumer or a better woodworker, don't get this; also, make sure your sharpening is on point. Furthermore, it works best on high-quality wood; avoid using it on low-cost box store items. For me, it'll take weeks of practice and trials before I'm competent enough to operate this guy.

Oaklyn English

| Jan 09, 2021

The metal components are quite sturdy. After the first use, the plastic handles squeaked/creaked, and the large tote broke in half in the middle of the second use (the first "real" use). Is it possible that the tote was already cracked when I got it? I wish I had bought a cheaper brand with wood handles, but searching and reading shows that a broken tote on Stanley planes is fairly common.

Kalel Conley

| Feb 21, 2021

century. I made a concerted effort to fall in love with this aircraft. The blade is good, though it is coated in plastic, which makes it difficult to initialize; I figured I'd get about a half hour of flattening the sole and then be satisfied, as another reviewer suggested. I couldn't even pretend to use it for two hours. At that point, I gave up because it was clearly not good enough. Stanley's plight this century has been tragic. Very sad.

Cassius Rojas

| May 03, 2021