How a Mill Employee Helped Change the World

At the end of every milling process, there are four basic steps: sawing, grinding, polishing, and finishing. It's interesting how four simple words can bring a collection of sophisticated meaning

The first step in this process is sawing. In order to cut through the material you need a saw with teeth that can grip it tightly enough to prevent it from slipping while you turn the wheel. The teeth of a saw are made up of kerfs and splines which are two types of cuts on opposite sides of a blade. Kerfs are perpendicular to the blade and splines are parallel to the blade. Both types of cuts provide friction between the tool and material being worked on but only kerfs provide enough friction for proper cutting action

The next step in milling is grinding where all remaining imperfections in the surface are removed by mechanical means such as abrasives or polishing wheels. After grinding there will still be some irregularities left in the surface which require further work before they can be finished off with buffing wheels and polishing compounds (both liquids)

The finishing stage consists of applying coats of paint or enamel to protect against corrosion or wear caused by contact with other materials or surfaces as well as adding color