Bailey hand planes vs Bedrocks

[Brett57]

Interested in peoples comments on this statement ( by someone else not me)

Here to tell you if you are new to hand tool woodworking like i have been and looking for users.. buy once cry once. the bedrock planes are so much better so much faster than the bailey design it's kind of crazy. picked up a woodriver 6 for a steal on craigslist recently, and just picked up a bedrock 604 from CIHI that arrived today. Had to square up the iron but holy smokes it completely shames all the bailey No 4s i've picked up and put to wood. going to be slowly selling off my baileys to replace with bedrocks/woodrivers/nielsens. Basically, if you're reading this and getting started here is the only reason and the only way that i would buy baileys: to practice sharpening/restoring/early days planing and only buy them when they come up locally underpriced on marketplace/craigslist/estate sale. get the hang of everything on really anything else that you get cheap. but use bedrock pattern planes.

[yoboseyo]

Interested in peoples comments on this statement ( by someone else not me)

Here to tell you if you are new to hand tool woodworking like i have been and looking for users.. buy once cry once. the bedrock planes are so much better so much faster than the bailey design it's kind of crazy. picked up a woodriver 6 for a steal on craigslist recently, and just picked up a bedrock 604 from CIHI that arrived today. Had to square up the iron but holy smokes it completely shames all the bailey No 4s i've picked up and put to wood. going to be slowly selling off my baileys to replace with bedrocks/woodrivers/nielsens. Basically, if you're reading this and getting started here is the only reason and the only way that i would buy baileys: to practice sharpening/restoring/early days planing and only buy them when they come up locally underpriced on marketplace/craigslist/estate sale. get the hang of everything on really anything else that you get cheap. but use bedrock pattern planes.

is that person trying to sell bedrocks?

Seriously, I use a Bedrock 607 and a Bailey 4 1/2 and use the same blade assembly interchangeably. The Bedrock is maybe 10% better due to less chatter, and that advantage is completely negated when using thicker aftermarket blade assemblies

There's a reason new planes copy the Bedrock pattern, but it's incrementally better than Baileys. And certainly don't buy Bedrocks unless you're a collector

[derekcohen]

Sorry. Totally disagree. There is no difference between a Bedrock and a Bailey with the except of the mouth adjustment … and how many times does one do that. I have both, used them for decades, and like the Bedrocks for fashion, and no other reason.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chief Tiff]

Are you comparing the Bedrocks with post WW2 era Baileys?

edit: re-read the first line of your post where you state the opinion ISN’T yours!

I suspect the originator of that statement was probably comparing his Bedrock & Wood River planes to UK or Aus made 4’s where the build quality was ordinary at best. I’ve never had a Bedrock but all my user planes are either pre-1936 US Baileys or pre 1957 Records with the big flat frogs. They work beautifully.

[Cgcc]

Absolutely balls. Save that your average Lie Nielson is going to have a much better quality of setting up and require less fettling than an average Bailey-pattern user off eBay.

In addition to previous comments I would add that PERHAPS the adjustability without removing blade assembly would be a real boon if you wanted to do a variety of tasks with only one plane (or eg wanted to take a single plane to where you work).

I frankly would doubt even that would be much good given you will likely want multiple blades so you would have to swap out anyway. A general purpose smoother usually has a light camber on edges vs a heavy camber for heavy stock removal or scrubbing. You might also want a steeper blade angle for challenging woods. You're not going to have a jack of all trades with one single blade doing everything with no changes other than adjusting mouth.

[ian]

I noted that what Brett57 posted mentioned "craigslist". Craigslist is a US classified add site -- I think craigslist's primary funding is through people buying add space to sell sexual services.

Be that as it is.
Being a US site, we in Australia have no way of telling what the original poster was referring to, but it's quite likely that they were comparing hand planes made after WW2 with bedrock series planes, which according to Patrick ceased production in 1943 or earlier.

A better comparison would be to compare a pre-1942 standard Stanley with the bed rock. As Derek said, apart from the frog adjustment, essentially there's no difference.

[Brett57]

Thanks everyone this is what I had thought.
cheers for all your passionate responses.
I will stick to my Bailey / Stanley pattern planes and slowly try to swap them out for Pat. dated USA examples.

[Mountain Ash]

Hi B57. I am lucky enough to have 1 Bedrock and 2 US pat planes and they are all lovely to use. But one of my favourites is an English #6. After "fettling" - I love that word - it is also a joy to use. I think that a lot can be done to improve most planes (at least anything pre WW2). The most important things are a sharp blade and a well fitting cap iron. And practice.

[Brett57]

Cheers Mountain Ash I will take that onboard.

[Greg Q]

I am in broad agreement about the Bailey pattern planes. Well fettled, and with a heavy blade and cap iron, are as good as a L-N or bedrock. I used to own a custom collection of L-Ns from 1-9 and now have just their block plane and Stanley 4,6, and 10 1/2. If I did more handwork I would get a #7. I have a couple of other specialty planes.

When it comes down to it, a plane body is just a blade holder. Anything you can do to eliminate chatter and have a reliable adjustment mechanism is going to be rewarding.

[Vann]

I suppose the original comments would be true if comparing a modern (post-1990) Stanley Bailey or Record with a modern Clifton or Lie-Nielsen bedrock style plane.

Cheers, Vann.