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Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic vs Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic and Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$45,190
$48,970
Employment · BLS OEWS
70,110
5,730
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
32nd pct
29th pct

At a glance

Dimension Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
Median pay $45,190 $48,970
Employment 70,110 5,730
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection Declining (-12.0%) Declining (-7.8%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 5,500 500
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 32nd pct Low · 29th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 26th pct · 18% of tasks 22nd pct · 17% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Operations Monitoring, Operation and Control, Control Precision, Manual Dexterity, Near Vision, Problem Sensitivity, Reaction Time, Quality Control Analysis, Arm-Hand Steadiness, Multilimb Coordination, Production and Processing, Perceptual Speed, Rate Control, Reading Comprehension, Monitoring, Written Comprehension, Deductive Reasoning, Information Ordering, Flexibility of Closure, Visualization, Selective Attention, Finger Dexterity, Static Strength, Critical Thinking, Troubleshooting, Judgment and Decision Making, Oral Comprehension, Oral Expression, Inductive Reasoning, Auditory Attention, Mathematics, Complex Problem Solving, Category Flexibility.

Specific to Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

  • Trunk Strength
  • Far Vision
  • Depth Perception
  • Speaking
  • Wrist-Finger Speed
  • Active Listening
  • Coordination

Specific to Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

  • Mechanical
  • Equipment Maintenance
  • Repairing
  • English Language
  • Equipment Selection
  • Hearing Sensitivity
  • Mathematical Reasoning

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software .

Specific to Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Specific to Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic or Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic vs Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic-vs-tool-grinders-filers-and-sharpeners

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic vs Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic-vs-tool-grinders-filers-and-sharpeners

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic-vs-tool-grinders-filers-and-sharpeners,
  title  = {Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic vs Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setters-operators-and-tenders-metal-and-plastic-vs-tool-grinders-filers-and-sharpeners}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.