History of the Skil 100 Planer

The Skil 100 planer has become one of the most iconic tools in surfboard shaping. Although originally developed as a portable woodworking planer, its design and precise depth adjustment eventually made it a favorite among professional surfboard shapers. The story of the Skil 100 begins with its inventor, Henry Spitzley.

The Skil 100 was invented by Henry Spitzley in the late 1940s. The seventh of 14 children, Henry grew up on a farm near Portland, Michigan, in the early 1900s. He became a machinist by trade and was described by family members as an exceptionally innovative “tinkerer.” He was also a lifelong bachelor.

His idea was to create a portable power-driven planer with the speed and efficiency needed to keep up with the building construction boom. Portable electric planers of the time were so large that they often required two workers to operate. Henry also wanted to improve the existing depth-regulating mechanisms, creating a depth control capable of extremely close-tolerance cuts.

In his patent, Spitzley explains: "the adjusting mechanism of the planer may slantingly be moved forwardly or backwardly, which moves the said mechanism downwardly and upwardly, respectively. I wish particularly to point out that the depth regulating device of my invention used in combination with the planer, can be readily adjusted to cut at substantially any desired depth and the said adjustment can be of extremely close tolerance."

Unsure how to market the invention, Henry approached Schaberg Dietrich Hardware, a wholesale hardware company in Lansing, Michigan. “SD Hardware” then presented the invention to Skil Corp., which purchased the rights. Henry and SD Hardware each received $1 for every planer sold. Over the life of the patent, Henry eventually received approximately $125,000, equivalent to roughly $1.1 million when this article was originally published. Henry lived a frugal life and reportedly never spent any of the money before his death in 1974.

The Skil 100 wasn't Henry's only invention. A family member in the meatpacking business complained that several guns were being destroyed each day while killing cattle. Henry went on to design a cattle stunner to solve the problem. The Humane Society awarded him $1,000 for developing what was considered a more humane method of slaughter at the time. A similar type of cattle stunner may be familiar from the film No Country for Old Men, where one is used to destroy door locks and for other, more graphic purposes.

Henry’s remaining family finds it interesting that his tool invention is still widely used by surfboard shapers today, given how different that application was from its original purpose. Through his innovations and problem-solving skills, Henry ultimately left a mark on industries and subcultures he likely never anticipated.

The Skil 100 and Surfboard Shaping

Although the Skil 100 was designed as a woodworking tool for jobs such as fitting wooden doors, it eventually found an entirely different purpose in surfboard manufacturing.

One story passed down within the surfboard industry connects the Skil 100's early use in surfboard shaping to woodworkers from the Los Angeles harbor area. During World War II, boatyards around Terminal Island and San Pedro employed skilled woodworkers building wooden military craft, including crash rescue boats, submarine chasers, and air-sea rescue utility craft for the U.S. Navy and Army. In the years after the war, some of these craftsmen are said to have applied their boatbuilding skills to the growing surfboard industry, using power planers to shape early surfboards from large blocks of wood and becoming some of the first surfboard shapers to use the Skil 100.

As foam surfboard blanks became the industry standard and surfboard production expanded through the 1960s, the Skil 100 became closely associated with professional surfboard shaping. Its power and balance allowed shapers to remove foam efficiently, while its adjustable cutting depth provided the control needed for more precise shaping.

Skil discontinued production of the Skil 100 in 1988, but the planer never disappeared from the surfboard industry. Decades later, surviving Skil 100s are still rebuilt, modified, and maintained and can be found in surfboard shaping bays around the world.

For a detailed reference to the planer's components, view the Skil 100 Parts Diagram.

Written and researched by Florian Saylor, founder of Shaper Supply.