Surface grinding is a popular way to produce a smooth finish on flat surfaces. Surface grinding is a finishing process that utilizes abrasive rotating wheels to smooth flat surfaces of materials such as minor steel or cast iron to give them more of a refined appearance and/or to get a desired surface for a functional purpose. Several different types of surface grinders are on the market today.

A conventional Grinding machining for sharpening a woodworking tool such as, for example, a circular saw blade usually comprises a power driven grinding wheel which is rotated in a fixed plane and in a fixed position relatively to the machines base, and a worktable which is adapted to hold the saw blade at various angles relatively to the plane of rotation of the grinding wheel. In addition, it is necessary for the workpiece table to be capable of moving the saw blade towards and away from the grinding wheel at various angles to the grinding wheel's cutting surface whilst the saw blade is held at a selected one of several angles relatively to the plane of rotation. It is therefore necessary, in order to carry out the sharpening of a circular saw blade, to provide a conventional Grinding machining with a relatively complex worktable arrangement, and it has also been found that the sharpening operation on such a machine is a time consuming and therefore expensive operation.