OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

269015 Bill Ghio 2019‑08‑07 Whatsit??
When we travel we like to check out local museums as they are always interesting
and of course focused on the local area. No surprise, I always gravitate to any
tool related content and am usually amused by the misidentified tools. Holyhead,
Wales, has a small but well done Maritime Museum. In their display of
shipwright’s tool everything was well identified except for item #10. This is
what they said about it:

“Very often shipwrights made their own tools for specific jobs. This crude user-
made plane is one such tool…but what was it used for?”

https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../48482421007/in/dateposted/

Unfortunately I could not handle it or see any other view than the one pictured,
so scant information to go on. My best guess is a very large spill plane. Any
ideas?

Bill
269016 Phil Schempf <philschempf@g...> 2019‑08‑07 Re: Whatsit??
Skewed like that makes me think it was used cross grain, maybe to make a
scarf joint for joining planks.  Were you able to get an idea of what the
sole looked like and how it was oriented to the blade (was the cutting edge
flush with the sole, was the sole square with the sides - not easy the way
it was displayed)?

Phil
269017 Peter Marquis-Kyle <peter@m...> 2019‑08‑07 Re: Whatsit??
On 8/08/2019 5:08 am, Bill Ghio via OldTools wrote:
> When we travel we like to check out local museums as they are always
interesting and of course focused on the local area. No surprise, I always
gravitate to any tool related content and am usually amused by the misidentified
tools. Holyhead, Wales, has a small but well done Maritime Museum. In their
display of shipwright’s tool everything was well identified except for item #10.
This is what they said about it:
> 
> “Very often shipwrights made their own tools for specific jobs. This crude
user-made plane is one such tool…but what was it used for?”
> 
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../48482421007/in/dateposted/
> 
> Unfortunately I could not handle it or see any other view than the one
pictured, so scant information to go on. My best guess is a very large spill
plane. Any ideas?

A spill plane?

-- 

Peter Marquis-Kyle
269018 Phil Schempf <philschempf@g...> 2019‑08‑07 Re: Whatsit??
Here’s a modern version of a spile plane with an explanation - 
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=64338&cat=1,230,41182

Sent from my iPhone
269019 Erik Levin 2019‑08‑07 Re: Whatsit??
Bill wondered what a museum housed plane is for


Phil though scarf, Peter thought spill

My 40% of a nickel leans away from spill, as the angles just don't look right. I
can see it being used for cross grain work. I can see it making decent spills
with the grain.


Looking at the photo, it appears that the iron is skew, and tilted into the far
corner (top towards the camera), where we can not see, which would make me
wonder it it is for getting into a corner, as a shoulder plane for tenons.


*** This message was sent from a convenience email service, and the reply
address(es) may not match the originating address
269020 Peter Marquis-Kyle <peter@m...> 2019‑08‑07 Re: Whatsit??
On 8/08/2019 8:11 am, Phil Schempf wrote:
> Here’s a modern version of a spile plane with an explanation -
> http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=64338&cat=1,230,41182
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Aug 7, 2019, at 1:45 PM, Peter Marquis-Kyle 
> mailto:peter@m...>> asked:
>>
>> A spile plane?

It looks like Phil's auto-correct has turned 'spill' into 'spile'.

Pretty clever, knowing that we are in a maritime museum, and that 
shipwrights say 'spile', not 'scribe'. I can't cope.

-- 

Peter Marquis-Kyle
269021 John Ruth <johnrruth@h...> 2019‑08‑08 Re: Whatsit??
Peter,

> Pretty clever, knowing that we are in a maritime museum, and that shipwrights
say 'spile', not 'scribe'. I can't cope.

Oh...God!

John Ruth
269022 Mike Rock <mikerock@m...> 2019‑08‑08 Re: Whatsit??
Reminds me of when the King locked the court Jester in a room and would 
not let him out until he told a pun, to which the Jester replied, "Oh, 
PUN the door".....
Yup, I'm sick.........  :))))
269023 Phil Schempf <philschempf@g...> 2019‑08‑08 Re: Whatsit??
On Wed, Aug 7, 2019 at 3:05 PM Peter Marquis-Kyle 
wrote:

>
> It looks like Phil's auto-correct has turned 'spill' into 'spile'.
>

No - I screwed that up all on my own, but thanks for the excuse.  I'll have
to keep that one close at hand.  Auto-correct wanted to make it spike.

Phil
269024 Don Schwartz <dks@t...> 2019‑08‑08 Re: Whatsit??
On 2019-08-07 6:41 p.m., Mike Rock wrote:
> Reminds me of when the King locked the court Jester in a room and 
> would not let him out until he told a pun, to which the Jester 
> replied, "Oh, PUN the door".....
> Yup, I'm sick.........  :))))
>
> On 8/7/2019 7:10 PM, John Ruth wrote:
>> Peter,
>>
>>> Pretty clever, knowing that we are in a maritime museum, and that 
>>> shipwrights say 'spile', not 'scribe'. I can't cope.
>> Oh...God! 

Looks like we're headed down another rabbet hole! Will there be an 
eventual rebate?

Couldn't be helped. Had to be said.

Don

-- 
Enough protectionist cr@p... BUY CANADIAN. - I said that.

“Dear future generations: Please accept our apologies. We were rolling drunk on
petroleum.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

“Nature does not care for your opinion.” Robin Coope

“You never know who's swimming naked until the tide goes out.”—Warren Buffet

“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.”
- Benjamin Franklin
269027 Bill Ghio 2019‑08‑08 Re: Whatsit??
> On Aug 8, 2019, at 1:03 AM, Don Schwartz  wrote:
> 
> On 2019-08-07 6:41 p.m., Mike Rock wrote:
>> Reminds me of when the King locked the court Jester in a room and would not
let him out until he told a pun, to which the Jester replied, "Oh, PUN the
door".....
>> Yup, I'm sick.........  :))))
>> 
>> On 8/7/2019 7:10 PM, John Ruth wrote:
>>> Peter,
>>> 
>>>> Pretty clever, knowing that we are in a maritime museum, and that
shipwrights say 'spile', not 'scribe'. I can't cope.
>>> Oh...God! 
> 
> Looks like we're headed down another rabbet hole! Will there be an eventual
rebate?
> 
> Couldn't be helped. Had to be said.


Lots of good questions. Wish I could have handled the piece but all I could get
was the one pic. I hope it was a creative solution to a unique problem and not a
dead end.
269040 scott grandstaff <scottg@s...> 2019‑08‑11 Re: Whatsit??
>>
>> https://www.flickr.com/photos/77280442@N.../48482421007/in/dateposted/
> A spill plane?
>
With the blade at that screwy angle and the side escapement, its most 
definitely a spill plane
I guarantee there is base like a chamfer plane lurking on the bottom too
I just don't know why it was so long? Most are about 8" or so.
Maybe they needed extra thick spiles on ships?
   Its a spill jack
    yours scott


-- 
*******************************
    Scott Grandstaff
    Box 409 Happy Camp, Ca  96039
    scottg@s...
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/sgrandstaff/
    http://www.snowcrest.net/kitty/hpages/index.html
269041 RH Hutchins <rhhutchins@h...> 2019‑08‑11 Re: Whatsit??
Might those spills have been used to light cannon fuses instead of pipes?

Bob Hutchins
Temple, TX, USA
269042 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑08‑11 Re: Whatsit??
GGG

Much better than a spill for gun work is a slow match.  Used on both of the tall
ships I volunteer on, it is now a piece of cotton cord that looks much like
clothes line, soaked in potassium nitrate.  Easy to ignite but burns at the rate
of about a foot an hour with just an ember stuck to the end of the cord.  No
open flame and no burning ember falls off.  This is very important on a gun deck
where you may have 30 guns getting ready to fire. About 18” of slow match is
wrapped around the tip of a linstock, and both ends are lit if things get
critical, just in case one end goes out.  The linstock is also 24-30” long to
get the operator as far from the gun as possible because a blast of fire and
brimstone come straight up out of the touch hole when it fires - and also, the
gun can recoil unpredictably.  Check the smoke coming straight up out of the
breech here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/48514097566/in/dateposted-public/

No need of a slow match on a flintlock, of course, and canon had flintlocks
called gunlocks after the late 18th c.  And there are no cannon on a ship, just
guns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linstock

Ed Minch
269058 Michael Suwczinsky <nicknaylo@g...> 2019‑08‑21 Re: Whatsit??
How many guns are you firing at a time?

The little bits of square rigged gunfire seen here on the left coast tends
to run from one pounders on down to signal guns and precious few rounds at
that!

Michael

No open flame and no burning ember falls off.  This is very important on a
gun deck where you may have 30 guns getting ready to fire.
-- 
Michael
269059 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2019‑08‑21 Re: Whatsit??
Michael

Nobody fires 30 guns at a time any more.  We have an annual festival on Memorial
Day where we re-enact a tea party that never happened.  Our 18th c. English
warship (small, but built to period plans so VERY accurate) fends of the
colonists who are all firing rifles as they march down High Street from the
Court House to the River.  We are at anchor a couple of hundred feet out and we
fire perhaps a dozen shots out of four 1 pound cannon in 6-8 minutes and that is
plenty hectic for me - very loud.  This is a reproduction from the 1625 Vasa.
She had 24 12 pounders like this on each side along with 3 smaller guns on each
side.  Imagine 24 of these going off in quick succession, then again less than a
minute later, and again less than a minute after that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpNS0JpnUNY:

Ed Minch
269060 dks <dks@t...> 2019‑08‑21 Re: Whatsit??
This thread seems to have wandered well off topic.

Don

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ed Minch" 
To: "Michael Suwczinsky" 
Cc: "Galoots" 
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2019 8:07:41 PM
Subject: Re: [OldTools] Whatsit??

Michael

Nobody fires 30 guns at a time any more.  We have an annual festival on Memorial
Day where we re-enact a tea party that never happened.  Our 18th c. English
warship (small, but built to period plans so VERY accurate) fends of the
colonists who are all firing rifles as they march down High Street from the
Court House to the River.  We are at anchor a couple of hundred feet out and we
fire perhaps a dozen shots out of four 1 pound cannon in 6-8 minutes and that is
plenty hectic for me - very loud.  This is a reproduction from the 1625 Vasa.
She had 24 12 pounders like this on each side along with 3 smaller guns on each
side.  Imagine 24 of these going off in quick succession, then again less than a
minute later, and again less than a minute after that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpNS0JpnUNY:

Ed Minch





> On Aug 20, 2019, at 8:37 PM, Michael Suwczinsky  wrote:
> 
> How many guns are you firing at a time? 
> 
> The little bits of square rigged gunfire seen here on the left coast tends to
run from one pounders on down to signal guns and precious few rounds at that!
> 
> Michael
> 
> No open flame and no burning ember falls off.  This is very important on a gun
deck where you may have 30 guns getting ready to fire.
> -- 
> Michael

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269660 "Joseph Sullivan" <joe@j...> 2020‑01‑13 Re: Whatsit??
Several months ago, Ed MInch said:

SNIP

GGG

Much better than a spill for gun work is a slow match.... get the operator as
far from the gun as possible because a blast of fire and brimstone come straight
up out of the touch hole when it fires - and also, the gun can recoil
unpredictably.  Check the smoke coming straight up out of the breech here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/48514097566/in/dateposted-public/

No need of a slow match on a flintlock, of course, and canon had flintlocks
called gunlocks after the late 18th c.  And there are no cannon on a ship, just
guns.

END SNIP

Quite right about the match, Ed, but "just guns?"  Not Serpentines, Carronades,
and guns of various weights of throw?

BTW, did anyone else read the Aubrey-Maturin novel series, and if so, get to the
part where Lucky Jack Aubrey buys out the power from a defunct fireworks maker?
It propels loads alright, but sounds funny and makes tremendous flashed of
green, buke yellow or red depending on what barrel is used.  Very funny.

Joe
269661 Ed Minch <ruby1638@a...> 2020‑01‑13 Re: Whatsit??
Yes Joe - they are all guns, not cannon or cannons.  All of the other names
describe guns.  What was the name of the book in the series with the multi-
colored flash?

This is always fun:

https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=EpNS0JpnUNY ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpNS0JpnUNY>

Ed Minch

Recent Bios FAQ