So....what's so bad about them??
Built to be low cost. Lower quality materials, design and construction.
I happen to have purchased a group of planes in July 2012, which started my slippery slope into restoring. One of the planes was a Handyman. I initially was going to pass this one in the rusty condition, but I hate handling rusty equipment so I cleaned it up.
It was passed on to another forum member.
Stanley Handyman plane looking for a second life
The lower end lines of planes, Handyman, Defiance, Craftsman, etc. were manufacturer to be priced less than other lines of planes, like the Stanley-Bailey, Stanley-Bedrock, etc.
In order to reduce manufacturing costs, some cost saving decisions have to be made. Some are lower cost materials, some are elimination of features, some are just quality of manufacturing.
Since I do not have the Handyman plane, I cannot take more pictures, and at the time I took very few.
I expect these do not have a frog adjustment screw. A nice to have, but should not be needed often.
The blade will likely not have the tempered cutting edge steel insert found in the typical Stanley-Bailey blade. This means it will get dull quicker.
There may be more "slop" in the depth adjustment mechanism. These planes normally have a two piece stamped steel Y lever instead of the Stanley-Baliey cast iron single piece Y adjustment lever. The present day Stanley's now use the stamped steel Y adjustment lever which I do not like.
The lateral adjustment lever may have less movement. I just checked a Craftsman No. 3 which has 0.5in width of opening for the slot end of the lateral adjustment level. A Stanley-Bailey No. 3 I got at the same time has 0.75in width. Wider will allow more potential for adjustment if needed.
The overall casting may be lower quality, less machining of the surfaces. Sole may not be flat. Sides may not be 90 deg to the sole. The mouth opening may not be right angle to the sides.
If the mouth opening is off, and if the lateral adjustment lever has less movement, it may be a challenge to get the blade to be right angles to the side of the casting. Can be fixed by putting a skew on the blade, but more work.
There are cosmetic differences, like the inexpensive wood used for the knob and tote, the tote having no toe, steel screws instead of brass, etc. These do not affect performance.
I think the biggest issue is how well the plane will keep its tuning. I recall Don mentioning this as his biggest headache in some earlier thread.
I like to pick up a plane and be able to use it. I would be frustrated if I had to tweak some settings each time.
If you want a cheap hand plane to compare to a decent Stanley, I was recently given a Craftsman No. 3 which had a lever cap from a knuckle cap block plane force fit. If you want to fix this up for yourself I will be happy to send this to you.
Craftsman was a line of planes made by various manufacturers over time, Millers Fall, Sargent, etc.
Stanley made some even less expensive planes, like the Defiance series which had a fixed frog.
I got one without a blade in my "lot" of plane purchases.
