Sharpen cutting tools and drill bits, using bench grinders.

“Sharpen cutting tools and drill bits, using bench grinders.” is a supplemental task performed by Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. Among the occupation's 13 rated tasks, workers place it 1st by importance (#13 most important). About 38% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Operate cutting or grinding equipment. in Controlling Machines and Processes
• Maintain tools or equipment. in Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T0.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Read work orders or blueprints to determine specified tolerances and sequences of operations for machine setup. · importance 4.5
• Position and move metal wires or workpieces through a series of dies that compress and shape stock to form die impressions. · importance 4.5
• Measure and inspect machined parts to ensure conformance to product specifications. · importance 4.4
• Set up, operate, or tend presses and forging machines to perform hot or cold forging by flattening, straightening, bending, cutting, piercing, or other operations to taper, shape, or form metal. · importance 4.4
• Turn handles or knobs to set pressures and depths of ram strokes and to synchronize machine operations. · importance 4.4
• Install, adjust, and remove dies, synchronizing cams, forging hammers, and stop guides, using overhead cranes or other hoisting devices, and hand tools. · importance 4.3
• Start machines to produce sample workpieces, and observe operations to detect machine malfunctions and to verify that machine setups conform to specifications. · importance 4.3
• Confer with other workers about machine setups and operational specifications. · importance 4.1
• Trim and compress finished forgings to specified tolerances. · importance 4.1
• Remove dies from machines when production runs are finished. · importance 4.0
• Repair, maintain, and replace parts on dies. · importance 3.9
• Select, align, and bolt positioning fixtures, stops, and specified dies to rams and anvils, forging rolls, or presses and hammers. · importance 3.8

See all tasks on the Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic page.

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-task-10090,
  title  = {Sharpen cutting tools and drill bits, using bench grinders.},
  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/tasks/task-10090}
}