---
title: "Tool Grinder, Filer, and Sharpener"
description: "Perform precision smoothing, sharpening, polishing, or grinding of metal objects."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/tool-grinder-filer-and-sharpener"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Tool Grinder, Filer, and Sharpener

**Category:** Production · **SOC code:** 51-4194 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 51-4194.00

Perform precision smoothing, sharpening, polishing, or grinding of metal objects.

Also advertised as: Crankshaft Grinder; Cutter Grind Tool Technician (Cutter Grind Tool Tech); Cutter Grinder; Grinder; Grinder Operator; OD Grinder Operator (Outer Diameter Grinder Operator); Polisher; Saw Filer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $50,060 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $24.07/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $35,350 to $77,170, with the middle half between $40,800 and $62,150
- **Total US employment:** 5,600
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -6.8% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 500 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 39/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 5,600 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $35,350 |
| 25th | $40,800 |
| 50th (median) | $50,060 |
| 75th | $62,150 |
| 90th | $77,170 |
| Mean (average) | $53,240 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WA | $75,190 | $70,262 | 410 |
| OR | $60,760 | $58,784 | 430 |
| ID | $59,250 | $62,046 | 100 |
| OH | $56,690 | $61,105 | 190 |
| MA | $56,600 | $53,519 | 40 |
| LA | $56,380 | $63,918 | 40 |
| MS | $55,510 | $63,839 | 50 |
| KS | $54,100 | $60,066 | Not published by BLS |
| MO | $52,540 | $57,853 | 150 |
| MN | $51,990 | $52,717 | 90 |
| IA | $51,760 | $58,978 | 60 |
| CA | $51,300 | $46,333 | 620 |
| WI | $51,240 | $54,456 | 110 |
| SC | $50,220 | $53,569 | 80 |
| MT | $49,560 | $52,364 | Not published by BLS |

20 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 35 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/tool-grinder-filer-and-sharpener/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/tool-grinder-filer-and-sharpener.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 5,800 in the 2025–2035 base year to 5,400 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 400 jobs, or -6.8%. Declining: -6.8% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 500 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Little or no preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

## What the work involves

- Perform basic maintenance, such as cleaning and lubricating machine parts.
- Inspect, feel, and measure workpieces to ensure that surfaces and dimensions meet specifications.
- Monitor machine operations to determine whether adjustments are necessary, stopping machines when problems occur.
- Set up and operate grinding or polishing machines to grind metal workpieces, such as dies, parts, and tools.
- Dress grinding wheels, according to specifications.
- Remove finished workpieces from machines and place them in boxes or on racks, setting aside pieces that are defective.
- Select and mount grinding wheels on machines, according to specifications, using hand tools and applying knowledge of abrasives and grinding procedures.
- Inspect dies to detect defects, assess wear, and verify specifications, using micrometers, steel gauge pins, and loupes.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Monitoring — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 2.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 2.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 2.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operation and Control — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Maintenance — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Repairing — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Equipment Selection — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Quality Control Analysis — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 2.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Mathematics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Arm-Hand Steadiness — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Manual Dexterity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Near Vision — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Finger Dexterity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Control Precision — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Visualization — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 7.00 |
| C — Conventional | 4.15 |
| I — Investigative | 2.02 |
| A — Artistic | 1.25 |
| S — Social | 1.00 |
| E — Enterprising | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 88.3 |
| ISTP | 77.0 |
| ISFJ | 73.8 |
| ESTJ | 71.4 |
| INTJ | 65.9 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ. The bank also flags this occupation as introvert-friendly, meaning O\*NET work-context ratings put it low on public contact and performing for the public.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-lapping-polishing-and-buffing-machine-tool-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $46,550
- [Grinding and Polishing Worker, Hand](https://nuecareer.com/careers/grinding-and-polishing-worker-hand) — median $42,660
- [Milling and Planing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/milling-and-planing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $52,800
- [Woodworking Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Except Sawing](https://nuecareer.com/careers/woodworking-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $43,380
- [Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/lathe-and-turning-machine-tool-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $50,620
- [Cutting and Slicing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutting-and-slicing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $46,570
- [Tool and Die Maker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tool-and-die-maker) — median $64,050
- [Multiple Machine Tool Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/multiple-machine-tool-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $47,180
- [Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender, Metal and Plastic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/cutting-punching-and-press-machine-setter-operator-and-tender-metal-and-plastic) — median $46,330
- [Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setter, Operator, and Tender](https://nuecareer.com/careers/crushing-grinding-and-polishing-machine-setter-operator-and-tender) — median $48,540

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/tool-grinder-filer-and-sharpener