THE SURFORM

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THE SURFORM

THE FLAT SURFORM 'FILE'

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The surform is a woodworking tool, used for roughing out a shape. It is much more abrasive than a file (consequently, it is sometimes called a surform plane) and much more material can be removed. The closest description, is that it is cross between a ‘rasp’ and a ‘plane’. However, as a roughing tool, it does not produce a good finish.
The diagram below shows a typical surform. The blade resembles a cheese grater. It is a length of sheet alloy steel, with holes / teeth punch through it, in a regular pattern. The rim of each ‘hole’ is sharpened to produce a cutting edge. The wood shaving pass through the perforated holes of the blade. Each blade has a clip at each end, which means the blade can be replaced when it is worn, or when it is replaced with a rougher / smoothing blade. Surforms tend to have two handles, providing control over the rasping / cutting motion.
It is worth noting that, the flat blade can be replaced with a blade with an half round profile. this is ideal for ‘surforming’ curved surfaces.

To use a surform, hold both handles as shown below. Keep the blade flat resting on the work and push forward. Sometimes better progress is made if the forward motion across the material is at an angle / diagonal, not straight across.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF A FLAT SURFORM

SURFORM ROUND FILE

The surform round file, is ideal when working with a curved surface or a internal curved corner, or even a hole, especially when there is a need to remove waste wood rapidly.

The example below shows a typical use.

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