The essence of skillful cutter grinding amounts to being able to produce cutters that are sharp yet sturdy, cut with little pressure and evacuate chips well.

When machining problems arise, often the problem can be traced to a faulty cutter. If you know how to choose, grind, alter and inspect cutters, you'll be able to keep just about any job moving.

Cutter grinding is an area of our trade that I believe separates the craftsman from the hack. Paradoxically, cutter geometry is not the complicated issue many cutter and insert manufactures would have you believe. There is likely a wide range of cutter geometries and grades that will work for any given job.

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There are many cutters you can make and sharpen with an ordinary pedestal grinder and/or surface grinder. It’s best to have at least an endmill sharpener and single flute cutter grinder to be less dependent on outside sources for your cutters...

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The following list of suggestions may help you sharpen your cutter grinding skills as well as your machining skills. Being able to make, choose and sharpen cutters will help you work efficiently and independently...