A spill plane is an old, traditional
plane used to create long spiral or coiled shaped shavings known as
a 'Spill'.
Traditionally a spill plane was a wooden plane with an upright plane
iron set at a heavily skewed angle. It is this blade angle / mouth
setup that forms the spiral shaving.
A spill plane was unique in function compared to other wooden planes.
It's unique function was to create the special shaving. It was the
only wooden plane which wasn't designed with a purpose of shaping /
moulding a piece of wood. It's purpose was to make a special 'Spill'
shaving.
The purpose of this originally, at a time when there weren't matches
(pre-1870), was to help facilitate moving fire from one location to
another e.g. from one lantern to another or taking the fire from the
fire place to light a candle or a smoker's pipe.
The long spiral coiled shaving burns fairly slowly and therefore for
longer.
While this is not really something needed today, the spiral shavings
are good for the initial lighting of a fire and also makes good tinder
in a woodburner.
From what I have observed and recall, most or I believe all of the wooden spill planes I have seen are planes without a manufacturer / maker mark which likely means they were made by woodworkers of the time.
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