FINANCING ARRANGEMENTS (Details 3) SFr in Millions	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Jul. 31, 2013 USD ($) Rate	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) building	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Jul. 31, 2013 CHF (SFr) Rate	Oct. 31, 2009 USD ($) Rate	Oct. 31, 2009 CHF (SFr) Rate
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Total Line (USD)		$ 68,600,000.0
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		$ 59,600,000
Kellenberger HH-GmbH revolving credit facility [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding			$ 0
Line of credit facility, unused capacity, commitment fee percentage	30.00%
Debt instrument, collateral amount	$ 9,000,000			SFr 9.2
Debt instrument covenant equity as a percentage of total assets | Rate	35.00%			35.00%
Kellenberger credit facility [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Debt instrument, collateral amount					$ 2,900,000	SFr 3.0
Debt instrument covenant equity as a percentage of total assets | Rate					35.00%	35.00%
Line of Credit [Member] | Hardinge Machine (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. Credit Facility, Expiring August 2016
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Collateral cash deposit requirement, percent		30.00%
Domestic Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility percentage of investments pledged		65.00%
Line of credit facility, unused capacity, commitment fee percentage		0.25%
Foreign Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Total Line (USD)		$ 68,647,000	74,729,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	703,000
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		59,556,000	67,097,000
Foreign Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		$ 9,091,000	$ 6,929,000
M&T Bank [Member] | Domestic Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Interest Rate		3.375%	2.9375%
Total Line (USD)		$ 25,000,000	$ 25,000,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	0
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		24,494,000	23,893,000
M&T Bank [Member] | Domestic Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		$ 506,000	$ 1,107,000
Chemung Canal Trust Company [Member] | Domestic Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Interest Rate		5.00%	5.00%
Total Line (USD)		$ 3,000,000	$ 3,000,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	24,000
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		3,000,000	2,976,000
Chemung Canal Trust Company [Member] | Domestic Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	0
Credit Suisse [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Total Line (USD)		18,472,906	17,660,911
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	0
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		12,310,000	12,682,000
Credit Suisse [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		$ 6,163,000	4,979,000
Credit Suisse [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member] | Kellenberger HH-GmbH revolving credit facility [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Number of mortgaged buildings (building) | building		2
UBS [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Total Line (USD)		$ 1,026,273	6,868,132
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	0
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		517,000	6,713,000
UBS [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		509,000	155,000
Mega International Bank [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Total Line (USD)		12,000,000	12,000,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	679,000
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		12,000,000	11,321,000
Mega International Bank [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		$ 0	$ 0
China Construction Bank [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Interest Rate		4.785%	4.785%
Total Line (USD)		$ 3,073,755	$ 2,879,770
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	0
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		3,074,000	2,880,000
China Construction Bank [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		$ 0	$ 0
Bank of China [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Interest Rate		0.00%	0.00%
Total Line (USD)		$ 3,073,755	$ 4,319,654
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	0
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		2,622,000	4,237,000
Bank of China [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		$ 452,000	$ 83,000
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Interest Rate			0.00%
Total Line (USD)			$ 0
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding			0
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)			0
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding			$ 0
HCBC [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Interest Rate		0.00%	0.00%
Total Line (USD)		$ 3,000,000	$ 3,000,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		0	0
Total Availability (for purpose as noted)		1,539,000	2,395,000
Cash deposit		1,200,000
HCBC [Member] | Foreign Facilities [Member] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		$ 1,461,000	$ 605,000