As you head down that slippery slope to antique hand tool use, you will discover a myriad of hand planes, some designed for a single dedicated purpose. Case in point - the wooden hand plane on the left is called a "spill plane", and its only function is to create the long, tightly twisted shavings seen to its right. Before matches were a common and inexpensive item, these "spills" would be used to transfer a flame from the fireplace to a pipe, candle, lantern, etc. The plane on the right is a Stanley No. 3 smoothing plane, with the shavings from it shown for comparison. The spill plane is 10 3/4 inches long, 2 5/16 inches wide, and has no maker's mark on it. It may have been made by a craftsman for his personal use.
Lynn
