# Any Way do sharpen a SurForm?



## wizer (6 Nov 2009)

I was clearing up a bit today and I came across my Dad's old Surform. I'm not sure what he used it for but I found it here when we moved in and later put it to work a couple of times when doing some shaping.

I wondered if these things can/should be sharpened?


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## Smudger (6 Nov 2009)

£2.92 from Screwfix - here.

Or I suppose you could file down each little hemisphere!


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## wizer (6 Nov 2009)

hehe I didn't realise the blade was replaceable. Who's the chimp now? :lol:


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## BMac (6 Nov 2009)

Ah, brilliant!

Last night I was moaning about how much I missed my Surform because I found the body but thought it was obsolete.

Thanks Smudger,

Brendan


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## Smudger (6 Nov 2009)

Just out of interest, what do you two plan to use them for? I used one of the small ones in the summer to rasp off some lumps on a wall (don't ask) but apart from that I don't think I've ever used it.


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## woodyone (6 Nov 2009)

Just googled "Surform" not knowing what it was :lol: , and i think i have one of those knocking about somewhere, but never knowing what it was called so thanks for that, now i know   

Woody


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## wizer (6 Nov 2009)

I want to use it as a super smoother, of course 

I keep it for sentimental reasons. My Dad is/was not a woodworker, more of an avid DIY'er. So there's not many old tools that he has/had. I used it last year when I was making a convex shaped stool seat. It helped knock all the high spots down from the table saw kerfs. I guess it's just a rasp in a plane body. Actually, I've used it on plaster board to flush up an edge of something I boxed in, before the plasterer came in. Worked well, but is probably the reason it's not not as sharp as it once was


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## BMac (6 Nov 2009)

Smudger,

I bought a Surform 29 years ago when I got married and was sorting out a DIY kit and I found it was useful for cleaning up saw cuts, smoothing plaster repairs, cleaning lap joints etc. No finesse but better than do-rightly.

Brendan


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## Smudger (6 Nov 2009)

wizer":1rs8lgy1 said:


> I want to use it as a super smoother, of course
> 
> I keep it for sentimental reasons. My Dad is/was not a woodworker, more of an avid DIY'er. So there's not many old tools that he has/had. I used it last year when I was making a convex shaped stool seat. It helped knock all the high spots down from the table saw kerfs. I guess it's just a rasp in a plane body. Actually, I've used it on plaster board to flush up an edge of something I boxed in, before the plasterer came in. Worked well, but is probably the reason it's not not as sharp as it once was



They're good on plaster, but the edge goes very quickly. Which was how I knew they make replacement cutters. I've had one for about 40 years, the other one I bought specifically for this job in France. I don't think I'd use it on wood, though - a block plane is a better bet, though I can see it might take over from a rasp.


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## matt (6 Nov 2009)

Good for car body filler too (which is good for repairing external the smooth render on Georgian town houses as well as cars).


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## BMac (7 Nov 2009)

I forgot to mention - you can vary how aggressive you want the cut to be by changing the angle of approach. It certainly wouldn't give a finish cut but for getting around a problem or a quick clean-up it's fine. If I remember rightly, at the time I bought my Surform there were different grades of rasp available.

Brendan


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## studders (7 Nov 2009)

Sam Maloof used to use them, without the holder, to rough shape legs etc.


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## tja (7 Nov 2009)

Well in Holland the small ones are popular for grating Parmesan cheese.


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## woodyone (7 Nov 2009)

> Well in Holland the small ones are popular for grating Parmesan cheese.



:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Ironballs (7 Nov 2009)

Shaping guitar necks, best tool available for roughing out the shape. Imagine they could be useful in chair making, as previously said, Sam Maloof used to use one


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## Evergreen (7 Nov 2009)

Surforms were marketed as a DIY tool and I quote from a 1972 Stanley catalogue:

"Use it on wood, brickwork, leather (!), plaster, metals, plastic laminates - it will take practically any surface in its stride".

I've had one for many years and felt they never functioned that well on wood. The teeth dulled too quickly. Just the ticket for cleaning up rough plasterwork, though.


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## wizer (7 Nov 2009)

Plaster is probably what my Dad had one for.

I've always wanted to see what the micro plane rasps were like. Same idea but supposedly better.


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz) (7 Nov 2009)

To sharpen the blades (yes I know they are replaceable, but what the heck ..) why not try a little citric acid. Buy the tubs from the supermarket (it is used in baking), toss a couple in a bucket of warm water. Leave for a few days. 

This is a good way of sharpening old files. Leave those for a week.

Regards from Perth

Derek


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## deanol (21 Dec 2016)

Yes I know that I've resurrected a thread 7 years old but it's Christmas and golden oldies always get dragged up at this time of year.


Would a surform be any good in place of a scrub plane given it's hogging off abilities?

Also, how do you pronounce it, "surf-orm" or "sure form"?

Cheers.


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## Racers (21 Dec 2016)

No.

Far too fine for scrub planing, you need a cambered blade across the grain.

A wide wooden rebate (1"+) work well.

Pete


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## Phil Pascoe (21 Dec 2016)

Not really - it would be limited by the small size of its individual teeth.


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## NazNomad (21 Dec 2016)

I'm sure you can't have just one?

I have a flat one, a curved one and a round one. They're great for rough shaping, I wouldn't be without 'em.


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## AndyT (21 Dec 2016)

I'm glad I don't need to stand out in the street, shaping car body filler with one of them any more. Then filling in the fresh gaps exposed by the shaping, repeat, repeat. Then spraying, rubbing down, spraying! 

But I did it when I was younger and couldn't afford a non-rusty car, and it made me what I am today. :wink:


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## Rorschach (21 Dec 2016)

Well now that's a tool I don't have. Not something I have come across at the boot sales either.


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## Jacob (21 Dec 2016)

Good for cleaning up a tenon if it's a bit tight


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## NazNomad (21 Dec 2016)

deanol":1aezpqnp said:


> Also, how do you pronounce it, "surf-orm" or "sure form"?



Sir Form (from surface & form)


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## lurker (21 Dec 2016)

Rorschach":2pa39loy said:


> Well now that's a tool I don't have. Not something I have come across at the boot sales either.



You have missed nothing!
Unless you want to . around with car body filler like Andy describes


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## Racers (22 Dec 2016)

The round ones can snap then the jagged end gets pushed into your wrist.

Pete


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## Bod (22 Dec 2016)

Looking on Google, this came up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surform
Quite a history for a oddball tool.

Bod


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## Downwindtracker2 (23 Dec 2016)

Being American, I would think I would think surf as in waves. I tried using one to fair plywood mold stations for a cedar strip canoe build. I might have gotten 6 inches before it was dull.


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## Pete W (24 Dec 2016)

Well, we know they're not a fine tool, but I quite like mine for taking the surface off a piece of painted or otherwise nasty, gritty, wood, of which I use quite a lot. And mine is one of the few tools I have of my dad's, so there's that. Each to their own, eh?

And in case there's anyone who doesn't know, if you push it straight ahead it takes a coarse cut; but if you skew it, it takes a finer cut. A finesse tool!


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## rxh (24 Dec 2016)

This type is good for easing a sticking door:


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## Phil Pascoe (24 Dec 2016)

That one's the best parmesan grater, as well.


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## AndyT (24 Dec 2016)

Yep, I've got one of those. I think it's a remarkably good tool for a lot of people - very cheap to buy and needs no sharpening or setting up.


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## NazNomad (24 Dec 2016)

rxh":klpg4f8q said:


> This type is good for easing a sticking door:




... and great for de-furring your tongue after a night on the sauce. ccasion5:


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## Jelly (25 Dec 2016)

Surforms are also dead handy for rough shaping soft foam for a plug (the composites/fibreglass moulding equivalent of a pattern in casting).

Nothing will hog a complex 3D shape out of styrofoam or expanded LDPE foam with the same balance of control (good), removal rate (excellent, _almost_ unparalleled) and surface finish (adequate yet awful, but at least not actively torn to bits).


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## Eric The Viking (25 Dec 2016)

On the snapping of the tube-shaped type, I share Pete's pain!

I still have a "short" tube one that gets used single-handed for rare jobs, although TBH, I find a large rats-tail rasp or a small milling cutter in my Proxxon is quicker and mroe controllable. I never really got on with Surforms, although I've had a few down the years.


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## bridger (26 Dec 2016)

The best use I have come up for them is trimming the edge of sheets of drywall (sheetrock, plasterboard) to relieve proud corners or lumpy cuts when fitting sheets together. It's a pretty messy tool, but it gets the job done.


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