surform

File:Simmonds Surform.JPG]]

The word surform is an apparent portmanteau of "surface" and "form".{{cite journal

|title=Stanley "Surform": An all new surface-forming tool does 1001 jobs [Advertisement]

|journal=Popular Mechanics

|date=April 1957

|page=270

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PeEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA270

}} It is unclear whether this is a genericized trademark or the opposite, a common name that was subsequently trademarked. Surform is a registered trademark of Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. in many countries across the world. Surform was first registered as a trademark in the United Kingdom on 25 September 1953.{{UK trademark|722126}}

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 three planes using this blade.{{cite web

|url=http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php?message_id=93435&submit_thread=1

|publisher=OldTools Archive

|title=More early Surform tools

|year=2001

|access-date=2009-10-03

}} These were marketed by another affiliated UK company, British Lead Mills Limited, in or before 1956.{{cite book

|title=Welwyn Garden City. The Official Handbook 1956

|url=http://cashewnut.me.uk/WGCbooks/web-WGC-books-1956-1.php

|publisher=Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd.

|editor=D. Frankl

|year=1956

|pages=92

}}

Stanley Works (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.{{cite journal

|title=New shaping tool grates wood and metal

|journal=Popular Science

|date=September 1956

|volume=169

|issue=3

|page=211

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA211

}} By 1959, Stanley offered a choice of fine and coarse tooth blades.{{cite journal

|title=Stanley surform is a versatile tool (advertisement)

|year=1959

|issue=April

|journal=Popular Mechanics

|pages=292

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gtsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA292

}} 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."{{cite journal

|title=Popular Science salutes Stanley for its "Surform" tools

|year=1966

|issue=September

|journal=Popular Science

|pages=140–141

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yykDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA140

}} A feature of the product line was that on all the tools the blades were replaceable; this was important because the blades 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, 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.{{cite journal

|author1=Grace Manufacturing

|title=Microplane advertisement

|journal=American Woodworker

|date=April 1998

|page=25

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DfYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA25

}}

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 are for one-handed use.

Although some of these tools are called planes, the United States International Trade Commission has ruled that under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States they belong to the class of files, rasps, and similar tools.{{cite web

|title=Ruling CLA-2 RR:CR:GC 966668 RSD

|date=November 3, 2003

|publisher=United States International Trade Commission

|url=http://www.faqs.org/rulings/rulings2004HQ966668.html

|access-date=2009-05-29

}}

File:Zester.jpg]]

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.{{cite book

|title=Auto Body Repair Technology

|author1=James E. Duffy |author2=Robert Scharff |edition=4

|publisher=Cengage Learning

|year=2003

|isbn=0-7668-6272-0

|pages=1002

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zh94U0W_hwsC&pg=PA323

}} page 323{{cite journal

|title=Microplane Sanding Discs & Rasp Plane Blades: Sanding tools that are easier on the lungs

|journal=Tools of the Trade

|date= June 4, 2007

|access-date=2009-05-26

|author=Michael Morris

|url=http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1504&articleID=512949

}}

In woodworking, surforms are used for rapidly removing wood from curved surfaces. They remove less wood than a drawknife, 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."{{cite book

|title=Designing and Building Chairs

|author=((editors of Fine Woodworking ))|year=2006

|publisher=Taunton Press |isbn=978-1-56158-857-2

|url=http://www.tauntonstore.com/designing-and-building-chairs-070901.html

}}

File:Indischer Elefant Detail Füße.JPG's foot]]

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, surforms are used to smooth pruning cuts and shape exposed wood. Surforms are popular among creators of bonsai, especially among those who use deadwood bonsai techniques.{{cite web

|url=http://gsbf-bonsai.org/Education/ted_matson_carves_up_a_storm.htm

|title=Ted Matson carves up a storm

|author=Dick Beltran

|publisher=Golden State Bonsai Federation

|year=2008

|access-date=2009-05-27

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623083454/http://www.gsbf-bonsai.org/Education/ted_matson_carves_up_a_storm.htm

|archive-date=2008-06-23

}}

Surforms are used also to shape surfboards, trim drywall,{{cite book

|title=Habitat for Humanity, how to build a house

|author1=Larry Haun

|author2=Vincent Laurence

|author3=Tim Snyder

|author4=Millard Fuller

|publisher=Taunton Press

|year=2002

|isbn=1-56158-532-7

|pages=[https://archive.org/details/habitatforhumani00larr_0/page/282 282]

|url=https://archive.org/details/habitatforhumani00larr_0/page/282

}} pages 217, 219 and in sculpture.{{cite book

|title=The technique of sculpture

|url=https://archive.org/details/techniqueofsculp00mill

|url-access=registration

|author=John W. Mills

|publisher=Watson-Guptill Publications

|year=1976

|pages=[https://archive.org/details/techniqueofsculp00mill/page/168 168]

|isbn=9780823052103

}} page 52

In automobile repair shops, for decades panel beaters have used surform files and rasps to shape plastic body filler. There, these surform tools are commonly called "cheese graters".{{cite book

|title=Paint & body handbook

|author1=Don Taylor |author2=Larry Hofer

|name-list-style=amp |edition=revised

|publisher=HPBooks

|year=1994

|isbn=1-55788-082-4

|pages=144

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C3Kht1Z2o_UC&pg=PA73

}} page 73

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.{{cite book

|title=Daniel Boulud's Cafe Boulud cookbook: French-American recipes for the home cook

|publisher=Simon and Schuster

|year=1999

|isbn=0-684-86343-X

|page=383

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NPvDkqXecdMC&pg=PA383

|author=Daniel Boulud |author2=Dorie Greenspan

}} This was soon followed by mentions such as one of the finest kitchen tools to come along in decades{{cite book

|title=San Francisco seafood

|author=Michele Anna Jordan

|publisher=Ten Speed Press

|year=2000

|isbn=1-58008-216-5

|pages=224

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jrlTn77g3cQC&pg=PA217

}} page 217 and a miracle citrus zester and hard cheese grater.{{cite book

|title=Three bowls: vegetarian recipes from an American Zen Buddhist monastery

|author=Seppo Ed Farrey, Myochi Nancy O'Hara, Dai Bosatsu Zendo (Monastery), Eido T. Shimano (FRW) Roshi

|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

|year=2000

|isbn=0-395-97707-X

|pages=254

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JAdXsNXVokoC&pg=PA243

}} page 243 Initially, it was available from kitchen supply stores and Lee Valley Tools.

• Charles William Hayward
• Oliver Simmonds

{{reflist|2}}

{{wiktionary|surform}}

{{commons category|Surforms}}

{{Planes}}

{{Cutting and abrasive tools}}

Category:Files (tool)

Category:Woodworking hand tools

{{Lowercase title}}