Abstract: An apparatus for grinding an elongated knife blade used in a veneer lathe or a veneer slicer has a blade mount with a mounting surface on which the blade is fixed. In order to prevent a thermal distortion of the cutting edge of the blade after it has been ground by the grinding wheel and naturally cools, the blade mount and the blade thereon are cooled by supplying a cooling medium even to an intervening surface or area therebetween. The blade and mount are also cooled entirely by direct contact with the cooling medium. The grinding wheel is controlled such that when it is lowered to abut against the blade, a resistance torque increase is detected and the grinding wheel is raised slightly to a grinding start level from where the grinding feed and stroke of the wheel is started so that interference between the wheel and the blade is prevented during the initial longitudinal stroke of the wheel along the blade.