The material removal mechanism in machining is significantly affected by the cutting edge geometry. Its effect becomes even more substantial when the depth of cut is relatively small as compared to the characteristic length which represents the shape and size of the cutting edge. Conventionally, radius or focal length has been employed as the characteristic length with the assumption that the shape of cutting edge is round or parabolic. However, in reality, there could be various ways to determine the radius or focal length even for the same tool edge profile, depending on the region to be considered as cutting edge in the measured profile and the constraints to be set in constructing the best fitted circle or parabola. In this regard, the present study proposes various models to determine the characteristic length in terms of radius or focal length. Their physical compatibility are validated by carrying out 2D orthogonal cutting experiments using inserts with a wide range of characteristic length ($30{sim}180;{mu}m$ in terms of radius) and then by investigating the correlation between the characteristic length and the cutting forces. Such validation is based on the common belief that the larger the characteristic length is, the blunter the cutting edge is and the higher the cutting forces are. Interestingly, the results showed that the correlation is higher for the radius or focal length obtained with a constraint that the center of best fitted circle or the focus of the best fitted parabola should be on the bisectional line of the wedge angle of tool.