I had my old plane for 28 year's, and it served me well, but the height adjuster had broken so was happy to find a direct replacement.

Bad quality

Good transaction. But quality of the plane absolutely terrible. Wouldnt buy another one. Sole was concave ! General grinding finish terrible. Chip breaker needed grinding. Locking lever too stiff. Took a day to get it usable. Nasty plastic knob and handle. Get a good second hand one, not one of these.

Broken handle

Bought within 12 months and used less than a dozen times. Never dropped and the garbage plastic handle snapped.Considered it to be bad luck and went to Bunnings to check warranty or even buy a replacement. First one I inspected on the shelf had a cracked handle too!I would absolutely bet, Stanley have had a massive number of defects.Garbage, and a shamee as Stanley was my go to for a quality plane while growing up.

Good Value

This is not considered to be a high quality plane, sitting at the low end of the Stanley tool line, below the Sweetheart line, and certainly below Veritas and Lie-Neilsen. I found the castings to be clean and the sole of the plane easy to flatten with a little time on sandpaper. Time will tell how long the blade holds an edge between sharpenings. If you are willing to put in a little work, this is a good value.

Good product from a respected brand

Its a sturdy well put together plane. Not quite as well finished as the 35 year old plane it replaced which was made in England. Still thats seen as progress I suppose. Still achieve good results as a fine finishing tool.

Ok but cheaply made

Works fine as a plane, although it needed some setup out of the box. The blade is ok. But you can see where Stanley have cheaped out in other areas; the lateral control lever is stamped metal and the handles are really nasty - plastic with big moulding seams. Still did the job though.

Rough out of the box

like the other review says, it needs some setting up. The chipbreaker doesn't seat well with the blade and is lacking rigidity so it can give some chatter if the chip breaker isn't seated well.With a bit of work it will produce some nice Fibonacci spirals and after several years with it I've gotten better at setting it up.It's a good plane but is maybe let down by thin blade and chipbreaker, my guess would be that there are plenty of upgrades for it but for me it's great.The finish is rough and can take some time to finish it but it's worth it when those shavings flow.

Second life

I've purchase this plane as my first one. It needed some cleaning and honing and it works now well. What a great tool! It is decades old and still works!

Waste of Time and Money

After returning the 3rd one I asked for my money back.Very disappointed in the quality drop of these Bailey planes in recent times.This is old tech, which has been refined over years. It's unacceptable to sell a premium priced product with parts that break (metal and plastic parts)Is not fit for purpose.

very very average

Planer very good for doing mediocre work. The plastic handle broke in two after several uses, the steel of the iron is of very poor quality and decays quickly even by planing softwood. I do not recommend!