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I buy a spill plane. What's that? [1]

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Date: 2023-11-12

OK, this is another tool that I definitely did not need, but I went ahead and got it anyway. Yet another hand plane. I probably need therapy, but I’m mostly harmless..

Anyway, back in Colonial times, most everyone heated their homes with firewood, and illumination was supplied by candles and/or oil lamps. People needed a way to light them, but safe friction matches didn’t come along until the 1840s, and they were relatively expensive even then, like any new technology is.

So, enter the spill plane. While a typical hand plane is used to flatten or smooth a surface, the spill plane’s end product is the shavings. Spill planes were developed in the mid-1700s to make tight, conical shavings called spills that could be used as wicks to transfer a flame from a hearth to a candle or lamp. 200 years ago, many, if not most, households had a spill plane.

It works via an angled cutting iron and specific geometry in the wedge and escapement to produce spills that yield the desired spiral conical shape. The plane’s sole is recessed with fences on either side. The recess is 7/8” wide; using 3/4” wide pine works fine for me.

This plane is a modern remake of the traditional tool, not many of which still survive in the wild. It’s made by Red Rose Reproductions. They offer a variety of quality wood-bodied hand tools, mostly molding planes and measuring/marking tools. Their spill plane goes for $159, but I bought mine used and paid a little less.

Here’s a look at the sole and escapement setup.

The plane itself is made from maple, quartersawn to highlight the striping in the grain. Every surface is smooth to the hand and the whole design is beautifully executed. You can tell it’s a quality tool just by handling it for the first time. Nice.

Made in the USA. Yay!

Whoever had this before didn’t do much with the iron, so I gave it a honing to get a sharp edge. Now I’m ready to try it out.

Ready to cut.

Setting this up is a little fiddly — The iron’s cutting depth is adjusted deeper by tapping it with a small non-metallic hammer. It’s real easy to get a cut that’s too aggressive. If that happens, just tap the front face of the plane body to retract the iron a bit and give the wedge a tap to rebed it and try again. Rinse/repeat.

Still, it’s easy enough to tune it in, but behold some of the crappy spills that resulted while getting there:

Practice..

In the end, you get good tight spiral spills that are rigid enough to support their own weight, light easily, and hold a flame as you walk across the room to light a lamp or whatever.

When the tool is set up, it’s loads of fun to use. The spills yeet out of the escapement hole with satisfying gusto, and it only takes a minute or two to make a couple dozen of them, probably enough to last a day or two back then.

Anyone got a lighter?

I’m mightily impressed that someone 250-odd years ago came up with this. We like to think we’re smarter than those who came before us because we have all this modern technology, but we really aren’t. Shit, Trump was elected in 2016. The argument could be made that we’ve become collectively dumber.. But I digress.

This is a very cool tool. I know I’ll likely never use it for its original purpose, but it’s still worth it to me.

Time to kick back and enjoy the bounty of this year’s harvest!

And now that it’s mid-November, my five plant crop for this year is dried and cured. I only got four mature plants because some critter knocked one over in September. I cried tears of despair, but had to forge ahead. In the end, I got about six ounces of nice bud. I gave away an ounce or two to friends, but what’s left should last for four or five months.

Next spring, I think I’ll go with a dozen plants. That should be enough for a whole year.

A poorly-focused close-up of a typical bud. Still, nice crystals..

Be safe, everyone!

ER

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