This paper presents an experimental study of the effect of cutting tool materials on surface quality when turning hardened steels. Machining tests on a lathe are performed using polycrystalline cubic boron nitride (PCBN) and ceramic tools at various cutting conditions without coolant. From the experiments, it is observed that the radial force is the largest force component regardless the type of tool used. The specific cutting energy for the hard turning is estimated to be considerably smaller than the specific grinding energy. It is also found that cutting force and surface roughness with the PCBN tools are higher and better than those with the ceramic tools under the same cutting condition. It is due that the PCBN tools transfer the generated heat more effectively than the ceramic tools due to their higher thermal conductivity. The optimal cutting conditions for the best surface quality are selected by using an orthogonal array concept.