An end mill includes: a columnar tool body that rotates about a center axis; and outer peripheral cutting edges on an outer peripheral surface of the tool body, the outer peripheral cutting edges including a first outer peripheral cutting edge and a second outer peripheral cutting edge. A relief angle θ of the first outer peripheral cutting edge changes to increase in an axial direction of the tool body from a bottom face that is one end of the tool body. A relief angle θ of the second outer peripheral cutting edge changes to decrease in the axial direction from the bottom face.

A end mill includes: an end mill body having a rotation axis, the end mill body including a shank portion and a cutting portion with an outer peripheral cutting edge; an end cutting edge including a first cutting edge and a second cutting edge; a first gash opening between the first cutting edge and the second cutting edge; and a second gash located adjacently to the first gash in the rotational direction, and opening to a side closer to the outside peripheral from the chisel portion. A ratio (L1/L2) of a length (L1) from a distal end of the end mill body to a terminal end of the first gash to a length (L2) from the distal end of the end mill body to a terminal end of the second gash, when viewed from a side, is from 0.8 to 1.1.

Disclosed is a helical milling tool with forward-backward feeding, the tool including a cutting portion, a neck portion and a handle portion, which are successively connected to each other; wherein the cutting portion includes a front-end cutting section, a circumferential cutting section and a back-end cutting section, which are connected successively to each other; the front-end cutting section is of an end milling cutter structure or a drill bit structure; the circumferential cutting section is of a cylindrical shape and is of a circumferential milling cutter structure; and the back-end cutting section is of a frustum-shaped. The tool can avoid defects such as layering and tearing, which go beyond processing requirements in a composite material, improve the processing quality, save on costs, simplify the processing process, improve the production efficiency and prolong the service life of the tool.

A replaceable milling head rotatable in a cutting direction about a longitudinal central axis, the central axis defining a forward direction and an opposite rearward direction, has a forward cutting portion and a rear threaded coupling portion for coupling to a shank. The cutting portion includes two or more key actuating portions which assist in mounting the milling head onto the shank. The cutting portion includes a plurality of helical chip flutes alternating with cutting edges. At least one or more of the cutting edges and flutes extend axially rearward of at least a portion of the key actuating portions.

A replaceable milling head rotatable in a cutting direction about a longitudinal central axis, the central axis defining a forward direction and an opposite rearward direction, has a forward cutting portion and a rear threaded coupling portion for coupling to a shank. The cutting portion includes two or more key actuating portions which assist in mounting the milling head onto the shank. The cutting portion includes a plurality of helical chip flutes alternating with cutting edges. At least one or more of the cutting edges and flutes extend axially rearward of at least a portion of the key actuating portions.

A cutting tool, including a silicon nitride (Si.sub.3N.sub.4) ceramic substrate, and a diamond film coated on the surface of the Si.sub.3N.sub.4 ceramic substrate. The diamond film has a thickness of 7-12 μm. The cutting tool includes a tool nose, a blade, and a handle. The blade has a rake angle γ of 5-15°, a clearance angle α of 10-14°, and a helix angle of 15-45°. The blade includes four cutting edges.

A blank for a shaft milling tool having a generally cylindrical body of solid carbide, a rear portion and a front portion, the periphery of which front portion being designed for chip flutes to be formed therein, is made according to a method including the step of providing at least two separate green bodies having at least one axially extending inner channel, which are fitted together along a common interface and sintered together to form a unitary body. For a more economic production of blanks with radially extending channels at least one generally radially extending channel is formed in at least one of the connecting surfaces before sintering the bodies together. The channel is formed with its radially inner end configured for fluid communication with the axial channel and with a radial extension to a position corresponding to at least 40% of the outer radius of the blank.

An end mill includes: a columnar tool body that rotates about a center axis; and outer peripheral cutting edges on an outer peripheral surface of the tool body, the outer peripheral cutting edges including a first outer peripheral cutting edge and a second outer peripheral cutting edge. A relief angle of the first outer peripheral cutting edge changes to increase in an axial direction of the tool body from a bottom face that is one end of the tool body. A relief angle of the second outer peripheral cutting edge changes to decrease in the axial direction from the bottom face.

A single-sided four-way indexable cutting insert includes a positive basic shape, a rake surface, a peripheral surface including four side abutment surfaces, a base bearing surface and a screw hole connecting the rake and base bearing surfaces. The insert has an imaginary square frustum which defines a square base containing the cutting insert's base bearing surface, and further defines four isosceles trapezoid side surfaces respectively containing the cutting insert's four side abutment surfaces. A material volume V.sub.F of the cutting insert and a void volume V.sub.S of the insert fulfill the condition V.sub.S/V.sub.F0.25.

A mirror finishing method for mirror-finishing a workpiece includes: a step of performing a first machining operation with a first tool which has a cylindrical portion made of polycrystalline diamond or cubic boron nitride at the tip of a shank thereof and further has a cutting edge formed by forming a linear groove on the cylindrical portion; and a step of, after the first machining operation has been performed, performing a second machining operation with a second tool which has a cylindrical portion made of polycrystalline diamond or cubic boron nitride at the tip of a shank thereof with no cutting edge on the cylindrical portion.