Ace the 2026 Custodian Engineer Tools Challenge – Unlock Your Future with Confidence!

Flattening large surfaces efficiently comes from a tool that can remove material quickly across a broad width. The surform shaver uses a bar of cutting teeth that shave off material in wide swaths as you push it along the wood, making it ideal for leveling a rough, flat face of solid wood. It’s designed for solid wood use, delivering rapid material removal when you need to flatten a large area, then you can switch to a smoother for a finer finish. In contrast, a smoothing plane is better for final finishing and precise smoothing, but removes material more slowly; a draw knife handles rough stock removal and shaping with less control over a wide flat area; and a detail rasp set is tailored for small areas and curves rather than broad flattening.