Ferrous tool materials have iron as a base metal and include tool steel, alloy steel, carbon steel, and cast iron.

When the shank size of a cutting tool is large enough, a more viable technique is to braze the carbide tip to a medium carbon steel shank.

The experimental results show that the alloying element content of a hardened steel and its hardness have a remarkable influence on the tool life. The hardened carbon steel has the best machinability.