Stanley Bailey #7 Made in England plane

[Brian Deakin]

I live in the Uk
A number of years ago I attended a 4 day David Charlesworth sharpening and plane tuning course at his workshop in Hartland
I took an old Woden plane to tune and after tuning was able to make long shavings which were very thin
If you use Davids method to prepare a plane and replace the blade with a Hock blade you can have the satisfaction of having a tool to be proud
I would suggest if possible to identify an example of a plane which has the least play in the depth adjuster wheel

[Jim Koepke]

I would suggest if possible to identify an example of a plane which has the least play in the depth adjuster wheel

With the Bailey style adjuster that would be a Lie-Nielsen. Being so used to the depth adjuster backlash, play or sloppiness, makes using a plane without any a bit awkward. My plane with the most backlash is maybe three turns on the adjuster.

jtk

[Rafael Herrera]

If backlash is a big deal for you, Wood by Wright sells a Reed replacement depth adjustment kit.

[David Storer]

Backlash is predictable and easily manageable. I quite enjoy 'spinning the dial'. When you have a plane in your hands that is well tuned with a sharp blade, a little backlash is easily manageable.

Amongst my favourite planes are Faithfull (sic) no.s 3, 4 and 7, made in India but retrofitted with Ray Iles and Stanley original irons for variously c.$12 to $25 a piece. Backlash is easily managed ... just a quick spin of the dial ... and performance is excellent. They don't give you that sweet satisfaction in owning a 'small object of (almost painful) desire' that you get with a beautifully crafted Lie-Neilsen ... but they do the job just the same.

My no. 7 cost me c.$75 brand new, including the Ray Iles replacement blade. In practical terms, it is faultless.

I am not knocking the high-end brands. I own a few examples ... joinery planes, most especially ... and I am hugely happy with them. But you would have a very hard job prising that Faithfull no.7 from my cold lifeless hands.

[Jimmy Harris]

Most any Baily or Bedrock pattern plane can be made to work well and give consistent and excellent results. The basic design is pretty foolproof. A higher end plane might give you a more pleasurable experience using it, but once properly set up, pretty much any plane can give you the same results on the wood.

I don't even notice the backlash on my planes. I've used them enough that it doesn't register in my mind that I'm even dealing with the backlash.

And honestly, I find myself gravitating away from Lie Neilsen products. I won't argue that they're not all extremely well made or beautiful to look at and feel. But Lie Neilsen always seems to change one small parameter from the original design, and I don't usually like that change. Like for their planes, they use A2 steel irons and brass components. I find the brass need more maintenance and is heavier, which doesn't really benefit planing, especially if you're doing hours of planing in a day. And the A2 is harder to sharpen, doesn't get as sharp, and chips easier than O1. They're not deal breakers. I'm not selling my LN stuff, as it's all just minor annoyances. And side by side to even a really nice example of a Stanley, you can tell the LN is a better made plane. But I kind of prefer the old Stanleys and their copies (Sargent, Millers Falls, Record, etc.) overall, even with the play in the knob. Especially if you swap out the original chip breaker and iron for a Hock O1 set. They're not better made, but they're better thought out.