Tool Focus: The Surform

In regular surfboard shaping the surform is still used by “backyard” shapers (or those who don’t have their designs cut by a machine) to reveal their intended foils, rocker and rail profiles after initial cutting and planing and prior to fine sanding.  It’s the half-way house tool between removing a lot and removing a little.  In our workshop, working with wooden surfboards, surforms are used to blend the built-up rails into the deck of the surfboard and to remove excess material from the rails prior to fine-tuning their profiles with a sanding block.  But whether you’re working with wood or polyurethane foam, one thing is for sure:  the surform is one of the unsung heroes of the shaping bay.

It’s a tool that every surfboard builder and shaper feels as an extension of themselves, as intrinsic to their craft, and a tool that each of us should have served an apprenticeship with.  Sure, it’s not the most exotic or intriguing of tools hanging on our walls, and their yellow plastic handles aren’t all that aesthetically appealing, but there’s something to be said for a tool that’s got the word “surf” in it’s name and that’s been used to fashion the shape of surfboards for decades past.