Micro pencil grinding tools (MPGTs) are micro machining tools that have a huge potential for manufacturing fully micro textured surfaces made out of a broad range of hard and brittle materials, finding use in industries like biomedicine and microelectronics. Due to the flexible manufacturing method used to produce MPGTs - the shape of the tool can be adjusted according to the task at hand. Complex freeform microstructures with various cross sections like dovetails or hemispheres can be produced — cross sections that no other process can produce in brittle materials. MPGTs with diameters <50 μm however, suffer from a far too short tool life and far too slow achievable feed rates to make the process economical. As part of the tool development process, a parameter study is needed to understand the influence of some of the more important process parameters like feed rate, rotational speed and the tool inclination angle, as well as the grit size. A full factorial experimental design is conducted to determine the importance of each parameter, using an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical evaluation method. Using the knowledge obtained from the results of this parameter study, optimum parameters were selected for a second case study. Besides increasing the MPGT tool life, the goal was to achieve feed rates beyond 1 mm/min. © 2019 The Author(s)