Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

Also Called:

Grinder,

Grinder Operator,

Saw Filer,

Tool Grinder

What they do: Perform precision smoothing, sharpening, polishing, or grinding of metal objects.

Manufacturing Career icon

Manufacturing Career

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Monitor machine operations to determine whether adjustments are necessary, stopping machines when problems occur.
  • Inspect, feel, and measure workpieces to ensure that surfaces and dimensions meet specifications.
  • Study blueprints or layouts of metal workpieces to determine grinding procedures, and to plan machine setups and operational sequences.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

Cautiousness

Attention to Detail

Dependability

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

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Realistic

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Conventional

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Investigative

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Hand and Finger Use

  • Keep your arm or hand steady

  • Hold or move items with your hands

Controlled Movement

  • Quickly change the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat

  • Change when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving

Attention

  • Pay attention to something without being distracted

Visual Understanding

  • Quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem

  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements

Problem Solving

  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research

  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career

2. Plan your next move

  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop