The effect of tool geometry on the tool wear in turning the austenitic stainless steel, STS 304 was investigated. The wear of TiN-TiCN-TiC-TiAlN coated tungsten carbide tool was the smallest, showing larger wear in the order of Si-Al-O-N ceramic, TiN coated tungsten carbide, TiN- TiCN- TiN coated tungsten carbide, TiC-TiN cermet and M20 tungsten carbide tools at the same cutting conditions. The S-type tool of M20 with the larger side cutting edge angle showed the smallest tool wear in all tests due to preventing the groove wear of the side cutting edge. The wear of the S-type tool with the rake angle of $15^{circ}$ became smaller than with that of $-5^{circ}$, but the tool with the nose radius of 0.8mm did not perform much better with increasing the rake angle.