Of all the Bailey-style planes reviewed, the Footprint, made in Sheffield, England, comes the closest to matching the original made by Stanley. The casting and machining were clean. Like the Baileys of old, the Footprint has a three-piece lateral adjuster, solid-brass blade-adjusting screw, and a frog-adjustment screw. It even has wooden handles, although they’re painted.

I had trouble aligning the frog with the body while adjusting the mouth opening. I discovered that the blade’s factory grind was slightly out of square, which required me to adjust the frog laterally to get it aligned. The sole of the Footprint was out of true by nearly 0.003 in.—enough that it required lapping. Once sharpened and tuned, however, this plane had a feel similar to vintage Bailey planes.

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