The development of knives plays an important role in the history of human progress.

China as early as 28 BC to the 20th century, there have been brass cones and copper cones, drills, knives and other copper tools. In the late Warring States period (third century BC), copper knives were made due to the mastering of carburizing technology. The drills and saws of that time already bear some resemblance to modern flat drills and saws. However, the rapid development of cutting tools came in the late 18th century, along with the development of machines such as the steam engine. In 1783, Rene of France first produced a milling cutter. In 1792, the British Maudsley made taps and die. The invention of the twist drill was first documented in 1822, but it was not commercially produced until 1864. At that time, the tools were made of monolithic high-carbon tool steel, and the allowable cutting speed was about 5 m/min. In 1868, Britain's Mushette made tungsten alloy tool steel.

In 1898, the American Taylor and. White invented high speed tool steel. In 1923, Germany's Schloerter invented cemented carbide. When the alloy tool steel is used, the cutting speed of the tool is increased to about 8 meters/min, when the high-speed steel is used, it is increased by more than two times, and when the cemented carbide is used, it is more than two times higher than the high-speed steel, the surface quality and dimensional accuracy of the workpiece machined is also greatly improved. Due to the high speed steel and carbide prices are more expensive, the tool appears welded and mechanically clamped structure. From 1949 to 1950, the United States began to use indexable blades on turning tools, and they were soon applied to milling cutters and other tools.

In 1938, the German company Degussa obtained a patent on ceramic cutting tools. In 1972, the US General Electric Company produced polycrystalline synthetic diamond and polycrystalline cubic boron nitride blades. These non-metallic tool materials allow the tool to cut at higher speeds. In 1969, Sandvik Steel obtained a patent for the production of titanium carbide coated carbide inserts by chemical vapor deposition. In 1972, Bangsha and Laguran in the United States developed the physical vapor deposition method, which coated titanium carbide or titanium nitride hard layer on the surface of cemented carbide or high-speed steel tools. The surface coating method combines the high strength and toughness of the base material with the high hardness and wear resistance of the surface layer, so that the composite material has better cutting performance.