Smooth surfaces with abrasive materials or tools.

Smooth surfaces with abrasive materials or tools. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 17 occupations and seen in 24 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Smooth surfaces of objects or equipment. 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 24 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.

• Buff tires according to specifications for width and undertread depth. · Tire Builders · importance 4.7 · no direct exposure
• Cut and trim carpet to fit along wall edges, openings, and projections, finishing the edges with a wall trimmer. · Carpet Installers · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Scrape and sand floor edges and areas inaccessible to floor sanders, using scrapers, disk-type sanders, and sandpaper. · Floor Sanders and Finishers · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Guide sanding machines over surfaces of floors until surfaces are smooth. · Floor Sanders and Finishers · importance 4.5 · no direct exposure
• Grind surfaces with a power grinder, or polish surfaces with polishing or surfacing machines. · Terrazzo Workers and Finishers · importance 4.4 · no direct exposure
• Smooth surfaces, using sandpaper, scrapers, brushes, steel wool, or sanding machines. · Painters, Construction and Maintenance · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Grind curved surfaces or areas inaccessible to surfacing machine, such as stairways or cabinet tops, with portable hand grinder. · Terrazzo Workers and Finishers · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Sand or patch nicks or cracks in plasterboard or wallboard. · Tapers · importance 4.2 · no direct exposure
• Smooth rough spots on walls and ceilings, using sandpaper. · Paperhangers · importance 4.0 · no direct exposure
• Chip, scrape, or grind high spots, ridges, or rough projections to finish concrete, using pneumatic chisel, hand chisel, or other hand tools. · Terrazzo Workers and Finishers · importance 3.9 · no direct exposure
• Smooth, polish, and bevel surfaces, using hand tools and power tools. · Stonemasons · importance 3.9 · no direct exposure
• Smooth surfaces of articles to be painted, using sanding and buffing tools and equipment. · Helpers--Painters, Paperhangers, Plasterers, and Stucco Masons · importance 3.8 · no direct exposure
• Cut, surface, polish, and install marble and granite or install pre-cast terrazzo, granite or marble units. · Tile and Stone Setters · importance 3.8 · no direct exposure
• Smooth rough spots to prepare surfaces for waterproofing, using hammers, chisels, or rubbing bricks. · Roofers · importance 3.8 · no direct exposure
• Grind or polish glass, smoothing edges when necessary. · Glaziers · importance 3.8 · no direct exposure
• Grind ends of new or worn rails to attain smooth joints, using portable grinders. · Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators · importance 3.7 · no direct exposure
• Sand rough spots of dried cement between applications of compounds. · Tapers · importance 3.6 · no direct exposure
• Trim, file, grind, deburr, buff, or smooth surfaces, seams, or joints of assembled parts, using hand tools or portable power tools. · Sheet Metal Workers · importance 3.6 · no direct exposure
• Smooth or sand surfaces to remove ridges, tool marks, glue, or caulking. · Helpers--Carpenters · importance 3.4 · no direct exposure
• Repair cracked or chipped areas of stone or marble, using blowtorch and mastic, and remove rough or defective spots from concrete, using power grinder or chisel and hammer. · Stonemasons · importance 3.4 · no direct exposure
• Chip, scrape, and grind high spots, ridges, and rough projections to finish concrete, using pneumatic chisels, power grinders, or hand tools. · Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers · importance 3.3 · no direct exposure
• Grind, scrape, sand, or polish surfaces, such as concrete, marble, terrazzo, or wood flooring, using abrasive tools or machines. · Construction Laborers · importance 3.2 · no direct exposure
• Polish surface, using polishing or surfacing machine. · Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers · importance 3.2 · no direct exposure
• Polish final coats to specified finishes. · Painters, Construction and Maintenance · importance 3.1 · no direct exposure

Occupations that perform this

• Tire Builders
• Carpet Installers
• Floor Sanders and Finishers
• Terrazzo Workers and Finishers
• Painters, Construction and Maintenance
• Tapers
• Paperhangers
• Stonemasons
• Helpers--Painters, Paperhangers, Plasterers, and Stucco Masons
• Tile and Stone Setters
• Roofers
• Glaziers
• Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
• Sheet Metal Workers
• Helpers--Carpenters
• Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
• Construction Laborers

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-smooth-surfaces-with-abrasive-materials-or-tools,
  title  = {Smooth surfaces with abrasive materials or 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/smooth-surfaces-with-abrasive-materials-or-tools}
}