The problems about the sticking failure between cutter and chip, and the element diffusion are easily produced during the cutting process, owning to the existence of the iron family elements contained in the stainless steel such as Cr, Ni, Ti and Mn and so on, which belong to the same group elements with the Co element contained in the cemented carbide cutters, therefore, the stainless steel is a typical difficulttocut material. The machinability of different kinds of stainless steel with carbon steel 45# as standard of reference was analyzed from the aspects of machining deformation, loading and work hardening, and etc. The research on compatibility of the material, construction of the cutter and cutting parameters with stainless steel was conducted so as to optimize the parameters. Finally, the performance of cutter during cutting stainless steel was analyzed, and the design method of the special cutter for turning stainless steel was proposed. Double aims of high efficiency cutting and excellent service life of tool are implemented, and the research data will provide the references for efficient cutting difficulttomachine material.