From the introduction: The economic importance of the cutting process may be appreciated by the single observation that nearly every device in use in our complex society has one or more machined surfaces or holes. There are several reasons for developing a rational approach to the cutting problem:1. To improve cutting techniques--even minor improvements are of major importance in high volume production.2. To produce products of greater precision and of greater useful life.3. To increase the rate of production and produce a greater number and variety of products with the tools available.In this treatment of the subject we will consider the cutting process in fundamental terms. The objective is to explain a number of commonly observed results rather than to present a large mass of empirical constants and a large number of empirical relationships of limited applicability.