Rotary gear honing is a hard gear finishing process that was developed to improve the sound characteristics of hardened gears by: Removing nicks and burrs; improving surface finish; and making minor corrections in tooth irregularities caused by heat-treat distortion.

In this discussion of gear roll-finishing particular attention is called to the special tooth nomenclature resulting from the interaction between the rolling die teeth and the gear teeth. To eliminate confusion the side of a gear tooth that is in contact with the "approach" side of a rolling die tooth is also considered to be the approach side. The same holds true for the "trail" side. Thus, the side of the gear tooth that is in contact with the trail side of a rolling die is also considered to be the trail side.