A Stanley no. 603 Bedrock
There seems to be a constant debate about whether or not Bedrock hand planes are worth the hype and higher price. Curiously, many people focus on the feature that I least care about. The ability to adjust the frog without removing the blade is often pointed out as the key feature that Bedrocks have. In my experience, I adjust the frog when I tune it and then leave it alone. This would especially be the case when a user has a smoother, a jack, and a jointer.
What I find beneficial with the Bedrocks is the positive and large frog mating surface. There is a definite difference between a Bailey style plane and a Bedrock when they are both outfitted with a thin factory blade. The Bedrocks chatter much less when encountering difficult grain or knots. This I think accounts for their sale when they were originally offered. They do really work better. However, if you outfit a Stanley-Bailey with an aftermarket blade and chipbreaker like the ones offered by Veritas, they work just as well as a similarly outfitted Bedrock.
For a modern hand plane user, the Baileys and Bedrocks will perform equally well with an aftermarket blade. The collector driven price increase in the Bedrocks seems to make them hardly worth the money. If you are interested in the Bedrocks or just think they are cool, I recommend buying a round side early model. These do not have the frog-moving pins but do have the solid frog mating surface. This style of plane usually goes for about 30% less than a similar square-sided later Bedrock model. Round side Bedrock jack planes are quite common and can bought for under 50 dollars if you look around. The no. 4 Bedrocks are substantially more but the round sides are still much cheaper.
A Bedrock plane
The one thing to remember when it comes to both Bailey and Bedrock smoothing planes is that neither were intended for really difficult and wavy grain. I've had some success with these style planes but tearout will always be an issue. The reason for this is that the frog is bedded at 45 degrees. The frog angle is not steep enough to avoid tearout. For really difficult grain I recommend the Lie-Nielson no. 4 1/2 with a 50 degree high angle frog. Yes, it's harder to push but that 5 degrees of higher angle really makes a big difference as does the added weight and massive blade. There will also always be difficult grain that just won't plane well. Then it's time to cut your losses and use a scraper.
A Stanley no. 4 with a 45 degree frog in front of a Lie Nielson no. 4 1/2 with a 50 degree frog
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