Shape metal workpieces with hammers or other small hand tools.

Shape metal workpieces with hammers or other small hand tools. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 9 occupations and seen in 9 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Shape materials to create products. in Handling and Moving Objects .

Detailed work activities are the most granular shared layer in O*NET's work-activity hierarchy (Generalized → Intermediate → Detailed → occupation-specific task). The figures below describe how this activity shows up across the economy and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the work will be automated.

AI exposure

Of the 9 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 0 (0%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

Exposure estimates overlap with model capabilities — whether a model could speed the task up — not whether the work will be done by software. Observed AI use is augmentation and assistance today, not jobs replaced.

Member tasks

Occupation-specific tasks O*NET maps to this detailed work activity, most important first.

• Cut, shape, and trim materials, such as textiles, food, glass, stone, and metal, using knives, scissors, and other hand tools, portable power tools, or bench-mounted tools. · Cutters and Trimmers, Hand · importance 4.3 · no direct exposure
• Shape and solder wire and metal frames or bands for dental products, using soldering irons and hand tools. · Dental Laboratory Technicians · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Cut, shape, and form metal parts, using lathes, power saws, snips, power brakes and shears, files, and mallets. · Model Makers, Metal and Plastic · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Cut grooves, bevels, or miters, saw curved or irregular designs, and sever or shape metals, according to specifications or work orders. · Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood · importance 4.0 · no direct exposure
• Hammer, chip, and grind workpieces to cut, bend, and straighten metal. · Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters · importance 3.9 · no direct exposure
• Soften metal to be used in designs by heating it with a gas torch and shape it, using hammers and dies. · Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers · importance 3.7 · no direct exposure
• Cut, shape, and trim blanks or blocks to specified lengths or shapes, using power saws, power shears, rules, and hand tools. · Tool and Die Makers · importance 3.7 · no direct exposure
• Hammer out bulges or bends in metal workpieces. · Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers · importance 3.4 · no direct exposure
• Straighten workpieces and remove dents, using straightening presses and hammers. · Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners · importance 3.3 · no direct exposure

Occupations that perform this

• Cutters and Trimmers, Hand
• Dental Laboratory Technicians
• Model Makers, Metal and Plastic
• Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
• Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters
• Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers
• Tool and Die Makers
• Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers
• Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

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.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

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

@misc{singulariki-shape-metal-workpieces-with-hammers-or-other-small-hand-tools,
  title  = {Shape metal workpieces with hammers or other small hand tools.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/shape-metal-workpieces-with-hammers-or-other-small-hand-tools}
}