I decided to try a Taylor Tool Works bedrock style jack plane. Out of curiosity, I did nothing more than cleanup the oil that it was coated in and sharpen the blade and it worked wonderfully out of the box!

My BIL expressed interest in getting into more hand tools and asked about planes. I suggested a Lie Nielsen or Veritas, but he balked at the cost. He is not into scouring estate sales and just starting out it would be difficult to point out what to look for in a vintage plane and how to tune it up. He would be more comfortable starting with a new plane. I had seen some positive and negative reviews on this plane and mostly negative about the bailey pattern planes from Taylor tools, but the bedrock style did get some good reviews, specifically from Stumpy Nubs and Rob Cossman. Reading this forum there were many who discounted these videos as these creators sell their own products and tend to weigh heavily on sponsored products. The mixed reviews made me somewhat nervous, but I decided to try one anyway.

First thing I did was disassemble the plane. I did this to clean off the heavy shipping oil using some 3 in one oil and to inspect the frog and mating surfaces. The base of the plane where the frog sits was machined very neatly and looked flat and pristine. No need for any intervention there. Both sides of the frog were also machined very well and needed no flattening or de-burring. Surprisingly, the chip breaker met the blade very tightly. When I installed the chipbreaker back away from the edge of the blade, I could not get my fingernail to catch on the chipbreaker, so I left it as is. The blade was milled pretty flat and did not take long to flatten the back and sharpen.

I did not flatten the sole. I do not have a surface plate so any measurement would be in question as to the flattness of my reference. Taking some advice from others on this forum, I decided to see if there appeared to be a problem before trying to fix it. I can easily joint the edge of a board flat and square and take off full width and length shavings from the face of a S4S oak board. I am not experiencing any tearout on oak, fir or cedar so I don’t think I will be messing with the sole anytime soon. The plane works as it should and I am very happy with the purchace. 

I think there may be some “lost cost fallacy” logic in some of the negative reviews on the TT bedrock style planes from owners of some of the higher priced premium planes. Don't get me wrong, I am not pretending that the TT planes are anywhere near the quality, fit and finish of the premium planes. I expected it to be a bit rough, and it is. BUT it is working very well with nothing more than sharpening the blade and softening the sharp edges of the cast iron body. For a power tool woodworker who is starting to venture into hand tools and really does not know how they would use a hand plane, I think this plane is a good starting point.

If you value using nice tools and having a beautifully made that is also a work of art, then one of the high end planes will be worth the cost to you. Myself, I find joy in tools that function well. The tool does not have to look pristine or perfect for me to find joy in using it. 

Some Background:

I own a #4 Record, late 1980’s vintage, a vintage Stanley #4, a Krenov style smoother, a Krenov style jack (both with Hock irons and chip breakers) and a Lie Nielson scraper plane. I started with the Record and could not get it to function well until recently. My Krenov style planes functioned better, but tended to jam if the chipbreaker was not set back 1/16 inch or better. Then came YouTube and the Stanley #4 find.  With that plane, I disassembled, flattened and fitted the frog to the base. I also flattened the frog where the blade sits. I did flatten the sole on this one but I think the largest impact was fitting the chipbreaker to the iron. This plane worked like I imagined ow a plane should work. I then fitted the chipbreakers on the rest of my planes and they all started to sing! It seems like my biggest problem was the leading edge of the chip breakers on all of my planes. 

I expected to have to do some of these tasks with the TT plane so was very pleasantly surprised with how little I had to do to that plane to get it to work well. I believe that the bedrock style has so much contact area on each side of the frog, that the machining process can’t be rushed as much as in a baily pattern so these surfaces are better out of the box. The chip breaker is a machined style and not stamped metal so I think that helped as well. 

Taylor tool works bedrock style