Bedrock vs Bailey - How to Tell Them Apart and Which to Buy

Stanley sold two lines of iron bench plane from 1898 to 1943: the Bailey, which was the standard product, and the Bedrock, which cost more. They look similar in a listing photo and sell for very different money, so telling them apart is worth ninety seconds of your time.

The actual difference

On a Bailey, the frog sits on two narrow machined pads with a gap between them. To move the frog — which is how you change the mouth opening — you loosen two screws, shift it, guess, retighten, and check. The iron has to come out to do it.

On a Bedrock, the frog beds on a single wide machined surface that meets the sides of the body flush. There is more metal in contact, and on the later flat-sided castings two screws at the rear of the bed let you shift the frog with the iron still clamped in place.

Two claims get made for this. The first, that the fuller bedding damps chatter, is plausible and hard to measure. The second, that you can adjust the mouth without disturbing the setting, is straightforwardly true and is the real reason to want one.

Spotting one in a photograph

The fastest tell needs no measuring:

• BED ROCK is cast into the toe, where a Bailey says BAILEY.
• Look at the sides from above. On a Bedrock the frog fills the full width of the bed and meets the side walls flush. On a Bailey you can see down into the casting either side of the frog.
• The numbering is different. Bedrocks are 600-series: a 604 is the Bedrock equivalent of a Bailey No. 4, a 605 of a No. 5, and so on. Same lengths, same iron widths.

Round sides and flat sides

The Bedrock line changed shape partway through its run. Early castings have rounded top edges to the side walls; later ones are flat-topped, with the frog-adjustment screws at the rear of the bed.

The changeover is usually placed around 1911. Round-sided examples are earlier, scarcer and worth more — often noticeably more for the same model in the same condition. If you are buying, it is the first thing to check after confirming it is a Bedrock at all; if you are selling, it is the thing most likely to be under-described in a listing.

Which should you actually buy?

If you want a plane to use: buy the Bailey and spend the difference on sharpening equipment. A well-tuned Type 11 Bailey and a Bedrock of the same vintage produce the same surface. The frog adjustment on a Bedrock is a real convenience, but most people set the mouth once and leave it alone for years.

If you want a plane to keep: the Bedrock is the more collectable line, it stopped in 1943, and round-sided examples in good condition have appreciated steadily.

The honest summary is that the Bedrock is a nicer object and a marginally more convenient tool, sold at two to four times the price. Whether that is worth it depends entirely on which of those two things you are buying.

Two traps

Marriages. Because Bedrock parts are worth more, Bedrock frogs turn up in Bailey bodies and vice versa. Check that the frog actually seats on a full-width machined surface rather than merely being present. A Bedrock frog dropped into a Bailey body does not make a Bedrock.

The 1943 cliff. The Bedrock line ended in 1943 with war production. Anything sold as a post-war Bedrock is either misdescribed, a Lie-Nielsen or other modern reproduction of the pattern, or a marriage. Modern reproductions are excellent tools and are usually honestly described — just do not pay vintage prices for one.

Sources

• reference-site
  Patrick Leach's Blood & Gore (Stanley plane model-by-model commentary) — Patrick Leach
• reference-site
  Stanley Bench Plane Type Study (Types 1-20) — Patrick Leach
• book
  Stanley Tools: Guide to Identity and Value — John Walter