I’ve seen plenty of wooden planes that I would willingly cut into kindling to start a fire. These were ones that were in atrocious condition or were poor user made attempts. But there is one type of plane whose whole job is to help light fires.
Spill Planes
Back when firewood warmed homes and candles illuminated rooms, lighting those candles was no simple task. Matches were a luxury, and safe friction matches weren’t even invented until the 1840s. So, what did people do before then?
Enter the spill plane. This unique tool, born in the mid-1700s, wasn’t like your typical woodworking plane used for smoothing surfaces. Instead, it specialized in creating something quite peculiar: spills. Spills were tightly curled shavings of wood, almost conical in shape, perfect for carrying a flame from the hearth to a candle or lamp.
Crafted with precision, the spill plane featured an angled cutting iron and specific geometry in its wedge and escapement. As a craftsman passed a straight-grained piece of wood through the plane, the result was a perfectly shaped spill, ready to light up the darkness.
In early households, where necessity was the mother of invention, spill planes were commonplace. They were the unsung heroes of lighting, ensuring that even without matches, the flicker of candlelight could dance in every corner.
Though matches eventually made spills obsolete, their legacy lives on. Today, spill planes are crafted with the same attention to detail as their 18th-century predecessors. Made from the finest woods like American and European Beech, Maple, and Black Cherry, these planes continue to produce spills ready to ignite the night.
My Example
My spill plane is made out of birds eye maple with ebony runners.
There is no makers mark on it, but 2 owners have stamped their marks (N.R.C. & N.E.WILLIAMS).
While I have no evidence of the age, when my father bought it in the 1980’s it was identified as coming from around 1890.
As can be seen in the photos – I was able to create a spill from a piece of radiata pine.
Like all wooden planes there is a skill in setting the blade – so it took me a few goes to get a blade setting that actually worked.
