A surform tool features perforated

Perforation

A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes are called a perforation...

 sheet metal

Sheet metal

Sheet metal is simply metal formed into thin and flat pieces. It is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and can be cut and bent into a variety of different shapes. Countless everyday objects are constructed of the material...

 and resembles a food grater

Grater

A grater is a kitchen utensil used to grate foods into fine pieces. It was invented by François Boullier in the 1540s.-Uses:...

. A surform tool consists of a steel strip with holes punched out and the rim of each hole sharpened to form a cutting edge

Blade

A blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...

. The strip is mounted in a carriage or handle. Surform tools were called "cheese graters" decades before they entered the market as kitchen utensils used to grate cheese. Surform planes have been described as a cross between a rasp and a plane.

Although similar to many food graters made of perforated sheet metal, surforms differ in having sharpened rims. Also, a surform typically is used to shape material, rather than grate it.

Etymology and history

The word surform is an apparent blend

Blend

In linguistics, a blend is a word formed from parts of two or more other words. These parts are sometimes, but not always, morphemes.-Linguistics:...

 of "surface" and "form". It is unclear whether this is a genericized trademark

Genericized trademark

A genericized trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become the colloquial or generic description for, or synonymous with, a general class of product or service, rather than as an indicator of source or affiliation as intended by the trademark's holder...

 or the opposite, a common name

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 that was subsequently trademarked.

The first surform tools were the invention of a British company. A patent for a surform tool blade was obtained in 1949 in Australia by Firth Cleveland Pty Ltd of Wolverhampton England. An affiliated UK company, Simmonds Aerocessories Ltd., was an early manufacturer of surform tools. They made 3 planes using this blade. These were marketed by another affiliated UK company, British Lead Mills Limited, in or before 1956.

Stanley Works

Stanley Works

Stanley Black & Decker , formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a manufacturer of tools and hardware and provider of security products and locks headquartered in New Britain, Connecticut...

 (Stanley) first bought United States manufacturing rights, then bought the company. Stanley began marketing its first surform tools, a plane and a rasp that used the same blade, in 1956. By 1959, Stanley offered a choice of fine and coarse tooth blades. By 1966, the product line had grown to include pocket plane, files (round, half-round, and flat), and an electric drill drum. Reflecting their many uses, Stanley used the slogan it shaves everything but your beard. A feature of the product line was that on all the tools the blades were replaceable; this was important because they could not be sharpened.

Stanley used the name Surform from the start of its marketing campaign in 1956, and became owner of the Surform trademark in Australia in 1967.

Stanley now has several competitors that manufacture surform tools. These include Microplane

Microplane

Microplane is a registered trademark of Grace Manufacturing Inc., a company that makes photo etched steel tools for grating, grinding and sanding.-Kitchen graters:...

, a manufacturer of woodworking tools and kitchen utensils; Sherrill, a manufacturer of utensils for working with clay; and G-Rasp, a manufacturer of small kitchen rasps. In addition to its own tools, Microplane markets stainless steel replacement blades that fit some of the Stanley surform tools.

Types

There are several types of surform tools, used to make different shapes. They include flat plane; flat, half-round, and round rasp, and a variety of other shaping/shaving tools. Larger surform tools are designed for two-handed use; smaller ones for one-handed use.

Although some of these tools are called planes, the United States International Trade Commission

United States International Trade Commission

The United States International Trade Commission is an independent, bi-partisan, quasi-judicial, federal agency of the United States that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches. Further, the agency determines the impact of imports on U.S...

 has ruled that under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States they belong to the class of files, rasps, and similar tools.

Uses

Compared to a conventional rasp or sandpaper, the advantages of a surform rasp include a faster cutting action, no clogging of the tool with material being removed, and little or no dust

Dust

Dust consists of particles in the atmosphere that arise from various sources such as soil dust lifted up by wind , volcanic eruptions, and pollution...

.

In woodworking

Woodworking

Woodworking is the process of building, making or carving something using wood.-History:Along with stone, mud, and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by early humans. Microwear analysis of the Mousterian stone tools used by the Neanderthals show that many were used to work wood...

, surforms are used for rapidly removing wood from curved surfaces. They remove less wood than a drawknife

Drawknife

A drawknife is a traditional woodworking hand tool used to shape wood by removing shavings. It consists of a blade with a handle at each end. The blade is much longer than it is deep...

, so they are easier to control. Even though surforms leave very coarse finishes, the worked areas can be easily smoothed with finer tools, such as files and sanding blocks. Woodworker Sam Maloof described their use in chairmaking: "Once I have roughed out the arm on the bandsaw, I use a Surform® (Stanley® model No. 295). This tool does about the same job as a spokeshave -- it can take off a lot of wood very quickly -- but I can use it without worrying about grain direction."
In farriery, surforms are used to remove excess hoof wall from a horse's hoof. They may also be used to "manicure elephants' hooves".

In horticulture

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

, surforms are used to smooth pruning cuts and shape exposed wood. Surforms are popular among creators of bonsai

Bonsai

is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing from which the art originated, and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese hòn non bộ...

, especially among those who use deadwood bonsai techniques.

Surforms are used also to shape surfboards

Shaper (surfboard)

A shaper is someone who builds and designs surfboards by hand. Originally made from wood, most modern surfboards are made from pre-formed polyurethane blanks or styrofoam and then fine shaped by the shaper using an array of tools ranging from surforms, rasps, sanding machines and power planers...

, trim drywall

Drywall

Drywall, also known as plasterboard, wallboard or gypsum board is a panel made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper...

, and in sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

.

In automobile repair shop

Automobile repair shop

An automobile repair shop is a place where automobiles are repaired by auto mechanics and electricians.- Types :The automotive garage can be divided in so many category....

s, for decades panel beater

Panel beater

A panel beater is a term used in some Commonwealth countries to describe a person who repairs vehicle bodies back to their factory state after having been damaged . In the USA the same job is done by an auto body mechanic...

s have used surform files and rasps to shape plastic body filler. There, these surform tools are commonly called "cheese graters".

As kitchen utensils, surform tools are a recent innovation. The Microplane wood rasp, a sleek stainless steel surform rasp first marketed as a woodworking tool and known generically as a microplane, recently became popular as a kitchen utensil for, among other uses, grating cheese (see Zester). An early mention of using a Microplane "rasp-like grater" in the kitchen was a cookbook published in 1999. This was soon followed by mentions such as one of the finest kitchen tools to come along in decades and a miracle citrus zester and hard cheese grater. Initially, it was available from kitchen supply stores and Lee Valley Tools

Lee Valley Tools

Lee Valley Tools is a Canadian business specializing in tools and gifts for woodworking and gardening.-Corporate Identity:The company is family-owned. The founder, Leonard Lee, is a recipient of the Order of Canada. He founded the company in 1978, in Ottawa, Ontario...

.

In popular culture

In the 2001 film Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor (film)

Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...

, in a beach scene a man is seen using what appears to be a surform tool to shape a surfboard. This is an anachronism

Anachronism

An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...

, as the scene is set in 1941.