The Daily Regrind

In today’s disposable economy, savvy part manufacturers understand that money can be saved and productivity possibly boosted by resharpening worn cutting tools rather than tossing or recycling them.

General Cutting Tools, which was founded more than 40 years ago in Lincolnwood, Illinois, is one well-established source for tool resharpening, repair and modification services, as well as for new cutting tools. The company distributes an array of tool brands, including ATEMAG, Garr Tool, Ingersoll Cutting Tool Co., LMT Onsrud LP, M.A. Ford Manufacturing Co. Inc., The M.K. Morse Co., Sumitomo Electric Carbide Inc., Techniks Inc., YG-1 Tool Co. and others. In addition, GCT supplies safety gear, abrasives, hand tools, aggregates, toolholders, tool accessories, lifting magnets and a host of other offerings.

“We just added almost 100,000 pieces to our website,” said Tim Baumruck, chief financial officer.

The tool types include carbide, carbide tipped, HSS including cobalt ones and PCD for cutting metal, wood, plastic and composites, said Joe Carone, company president. For metalcutting applications, GCT primarily resharpens endmills and drills, including ones from brands the company does not distribute. The quantity a customer provides for resharpening ranges from one to 300 or more.

“We separate, we evaluate, and we provide the customer with the best option for their needs,” Carone said. “Usually, 99% of the time they give us the OK.”

Vice President Jeff Schuster concurred that it is “very rare” for a customer not to have GCT resharpen a batch of cutters, but on rare occasions the company cannot perform resharpening because tools arrive with too much damage. In one uncommon instance, a customer essentially dumped the tools into a box without including any padding or protection for them, such as placing them in their original boxes. This caused the tools to bang into each other while being delivered from Pennsylvania.

With 16 employees at the company’s 4,000-sq.-ft. facility, GCT’s size works to its advantage, according to Schuster, especially when resharpening and modifying complex tools, such as drills with double margins and step tools. “We can pivot and move very quickly because we’re small, like a sports car, and easily able to satisfy the customer.”

Upon Delivery

GCT offers cutting tool resharpening services for customers throughout the U.S., and has established long-term relationships with many of them, Carone said. “We’ve got many customers who we’ve known for over 30 years.”

Schuster noted that GCT provides its own delivery service to end users throughout Chicagoland, with its delivery zone extending from Joliet, Illinois, to Northwest Indiana and Wisconsin.

Once GCT receives a shipment of worn cutters, the company separates them based on tool material and type, evaluates them to determine if the tools can be cost effectively resharpened and refurbished, and provides the customer with a quote, Carone explained.

Schuster added: “Does it just have normal wear and tear on it or is there some damage we have to correct? We start from there and start listing what we’ve found. We need to 100% check each one of them and put together a list, and we send it back to the customer. Sometimes it’s better for the customer to order a new tool, which we can provide as well.”

After the customer approves the quote, the tools are resharpened on one of GCT’s four 7-axis CNC ANCA grinders. The machines are standard, but the grinding wheels are not, Schuster said. “Every single one of the wheels we use is specialized for our shop in one way or another, whether it’s the size, the angles, the shape or the grits. None of them are off the shelf.”