Sharpen cutting or grinding tools
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 10 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment (4.A.3.b.5) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 10 occupations that perform it.
- Sharpen tools such as saws, picks, shovels, screwdrivers, and scoops, either manually or by using bench grinders and emery wheels.
- Sharpen cutting tools and drill bits, using bench grinders.
- Sharpen dulled blades, using bench grinders, abrasive wheels, or lathes.
- Sharpen cutting tools, using bench grinders.
- Replace worn tools, and sharpen dull cutting tools and dies, using bench grinders or cutter-grinding machines.
- Replace worn tools, using hand tools, and sharpen dull tools, using bench grinders.
- Sharpen blades, or replace defective or worn blades or bands, using hand tools.
- Sharpen abrasive grinding tools, using machines and hand tools.
- Replace or sharpen dulled cutting tools such as saws.
- Sharpen cutting blades, knives, or saws, using files, bench grinders, or honing stones.
- Hone cutters with oilstones to remove nicks.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
10 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Cutters and Trimmers, Hand
- Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Cutting, Punching, and Press Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Electric Motor, Power Tool, and Related Repairers
- Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Maintain tools or equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.