Cutting tool regrinding — sharp again for a fraction of replacement cost.
Send us your dull end mills, drills and carbide burrs. We resharpen them to spec and send them back ready to run. Serving machine shops across Southern California from Cerritos, and shipping nationwide.
A carbide end mill that has worn at the corners is not scrap. In most cases only the cutting edges are consumed — the shank, the core and the substrate you paid for are still perfectly good. Regrinding restores the geometry that actually does the cutting, which is why shops running production work routinely put the same tool through the grinder several times before retiring it.
For a shop buying carbide by the hundred, that difference compounds fast. Regrinding turns a consumable into an asset with a service life, and it takes the sting out of the premium tools — the high-helix finishers, the coated roughers, the specials that took six weeks to get the first time.
What we regrind
End mills
Square, ball and corner-radius end mills in carbide, cobalt and HSS. Roughers and finishers, standard and long reach. Reground to original geometry — flute form, helix, relief and corner condition.
Drills
Jobber, screw-machine, stub and long-series drills. Point geometry restored — including split points and the included angle the job was set up around, not a generic 118° regrind.
Carbide burrs
Rotary burrs used in die work, deburring and weld prep. Recutting the flutes restores cutting action instead of burnishing, which is where most of the heat and operator fatigue comes from.
Have another round tool — reamers, countersinks, step tools, form cutters? Send it over with the details and we’ll tell you honestly whether it is worth regrinding.
How regrinding works
When to regrind, and when to replace
The honest answer is that not every tool is worth regrinding, and a supplier who tells you otherwise is selling grinding time rather than solving your problem. A few rules of thumb that hold up on most shop floors:
| What the tool looks like | Usual call |
|---|---|
| Corners worn or rounded, flutes otherwise intact | Regrind. This is the ordinary end of tool life and exactly what regrinding is for. |
| Edge chipping confined to the cutting length | Usually regrind. Grinding back past the chipped section is routine, at the cost of some length of cut. |
| Built-up edge or a burnished, glazed look | Regrind. A dull tool rubbing instead of cutting is the most common reason shops burn up spindles and finishes. |
| Cracked through the core, or snapped | Replace. A crack in carbide does not grind out; it comes back in the cut. |
| Worn far up the flute, well past the usual depth of cut | Ask us. It may still grind, but the tool comes back materially shorter — which matters if your program depends on the reach. |
| Inexpensive HSS in small sizes | Often replace. Below a certain diameter and price the grinding is worth more than the tool. |
Two things change on every regrind and are worth planning for. The tool gets a little shorter, so if your program is written to a fixed gauge length, expect to touch off again. And the coating is removed wherever material is taken off — which is why recoating is normally part of the conversation rather than an upsell.
Regrinding plus PVD recoating
Grinding removes the coating along with the worn material. Running a freshly ground carbide tool uncoated is fine for some work and a false economy for most — a recoated tool goes back to the speeds and feeds the coated tool was bought for.
We apply nine PVD coatings through our local Southern California partner line, so a reground tool doesn’t cross the country to get coated and come back. TiN, TiCN, CrN, ZrN, TiAlN, AlTiN, AlCrN, AlTiCrN and AlTiSiN — matched to the material you’re cutting, not to whatever is in the chamber that week.
- Regrind and recoat as one job
- Coating matched to the material
- Applied locally in Southern California
What to send with your tools
A regrind quote comes back faster and more accurately with a little context. Nothing here is mandatory — send what you have.
Quantities and sizes
How many of each diameter and type. A box of forty 1/2" four-flute end mills quotes differently than a mixed handful.
Original brand and part number
If you know it. It tells us the geometry the tool started with, which is the geometry we’re restoring.
What you’re cutting
Material and operation. It drives the recoating recommendation and flags tools that will keep failing for a reason grinding won’t fix.
Whether you want recoating
Or tell us the material and let us recommend the coating with the quote.
Any length you can’t lose
If a program depends on reach or stick-out, say so before we grind rather than after.
How you need them packed
Tools shipped loose in a box arrive chipped. Tubes, original packs or wrapped bundles all work.
Regrinding for Southern California machine shops
We’re in Cerritos, in the middle of one of the densest concentrations of precision machining in the country. Shops in Santa Fe Springs, Paramount, Gardena, Compton, La Mirada, Buena Park, Anaheim, Long Beach and across Los Angeles and Orange County are a short drive away, which changes what a regrinding program can look like: tools can move on a regular cycle instead of sitting in a bin until someone remembers to ship them.
If you’re outside the area, regrinding works perfectly well by freight — most of our regrind work ships. Tell us where you are and we’ll sort out the logistics with the quote.
Regrinding questions we get asked
How many times can a carbide end mill be reground?
There is no fixed number. It depends on how much length is removed each time, how far the wear ran up the flute, and how much cutting length the job actually needs. A tool used at shallow depths and sent in before it is badly worn will go through more cycles than one run until it fails. Send tools in earlier and you get more regrinds out of them — that single habit does more for regrind economics than anything else.
Will the tool cut like new?
Reground to its original geometry and recoated, it should perform in the same class as new for the same operation. What changes is the physical length and, on tools ground back past chipping, the usable length of cut. If a job is sensitive to either, tell us up front.
Do I lose the coating?
Wherever material is removed, yes — that is unavoidable in grinding. That is why recoating is usually part of the job rather than an extra. We can regrind and recoat in one pass so the tool comes back sharp and coated.
What does regrinding cost?
It is quoted per tool, because diameter, type, condition, quantity and whether you want recoating all move the number. What holds across the board is that it is a fraction of replacing the tool. Send the details and we’ll quote it.
How fast is turnaround?
Quotes come back within one business day. Grinding turnaround depends on quantity and whether coating is included, and we give you a delivery estimate with the quote rather than a number we might miss.
Can you regrind tools you didn’t sell me?
Yes. Brand doesn’t matter — we regrind whatever comes in, including competitor tools and specials from shops that are no longer around to remake them.
What if a tool turns out not to be worth regrinding?
We tell you before we grind it. If a tool is cracked or worn past the point where the regrind makes sense, you’ll hear that, and we can quote a replacement or a cross-reference from the brands we carry instead.
Send the list — quantities, sizes and what you’re cutting. Quote back within one business day.
Get a regrind quote