How and Why I finally made a spill plane
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How to make a spill plane. Yeah, why not?! I’ve attempted to make a decent version of a spill plane half a dozen times or more. One sort-of worked the rest didn’t. I’ve seen just as many versions of them along the way.
What’s a ‘spill’?
It’s a long tightly spiraled shaving of wood that tapers. The larger end is held by a hand and the tight end of the spill is light with a flame. The spill burns slowly at the tightly tapered end allowing one to walk around the house and light candles, stoves and fireplaces.
I honestly have been working on versions of a spill planes over the past 5 years. I had the drive to make a wooden hand plane but sometimes having a reason, having someone to make a project for is the catalyst to figure it out completely.
The Where and Who
There is a group of gentlemen in New Zealand who have a club/ guild named, MenzShed Kapiti. It’s a group that gives men a place to go at least twice a week to be around other men and share their trade wisdom with each other as they build projects for themselves, the other men, and the community.
When you find a group like this and have the time to be there, you go and take in as much as they will teach. The way I looked at it, I became an unofficial apprentice to all of them. I am eternally grateful to all of them as well. Especially one in particular, Gordon McGavin.
The first words out of Gordons mouth upon meeting were, “How do you feel about sharpening?”. I smiled and told him my stance on that, as I tell everyone, “Woodworking is absolutely miserable with a dull tool and nothing is the same as a truly sharp chisel”. I instantly loved this guy and at that point I didn’t even know his background.
Gordon is a Scottish gentleman who came to New Zealand to be a school /shop teacher, and to be closer to his daughter. That’s after he was and engineer for RollsRoyce. So who better to learn from right? Who better to take wisdom from to better myself, my skills, and projects.
That all sounds self-centered but the truth is I didn’t befriend him for selfish reasons. We became close friends because, I feel, we are almost the same person.
Old Stories Continued – The Why
We worked on projects at the MenzShed and on my car at his house. One day he gave me his old carving mallet. Granted it’s not flash and brass but it is as I like my tools, It has it’s own stories. It has a past. A story and Past that I can continue. I can’t give him much that has that same value but I could make something he would value and use, a spill plane.
Most houses I have been in while in New Zealand are wood stove heated houses. I watched many people use many different methods to light their fires. Gordon and his wife used one that I had not seen before where the paper is wrapped tightly into a shallow tapered cone. It reminded me instantly of spills and spill planes. This was the gift I made for him.
It’s not a great spill plane and it’s not flash. In my attempt to set the ‘blade’ correctly I “distressed” it quite well before it was even usable. Still, it works and I’m pretty sure he liked it.
Thank you Gordon for the guidance and wisdom. The encouragement and enlightenment.
Spill Plane Plans
Honestly, I didn’t really kind-of winged this a lot since I’m like that. I research things a lot and then wing it as much as I can. That is why I’ve attempted this so many times and never got too far.
This time I found a post from Christopher Swingley. I didn’t really build it to his specs, BUT I definitely used his angles. I do think his plans still bent my mind a tiny bit BUT they are the best out there that I’ve seen. Please consider jumping over there to check it out and give him the traffic he deserves!
https://swingleydev.com/woodworking/benchtop_spill_plane.php
Some of the Tools!
Consider looking at some of the tools I use. I’ll start listing this more here with descriptions/reviews/reasons
These are links to some of the tools I use in this video:
My Large Rip Saw – http://amzn.to/2oM9MIl
My Diamond Sharpening Plates:
super fine and fine – http://amzn.to/2tjJV05
medium and course – http://amzn.to/2oTwOyb
My Workbench’s Plans are in this book by Paul Sellers – http://amzn.to/2H0u9t4
*These are affiliate links, so it helps me out a tiny bit when you go over to Amazon from clicking on them for whatever you may need! Even then, the most important thing is to shop around – good cheap tools can be found everywhere!
Cheers,
Clean Phil Wanted