Abstract Hard turning of high chromium hardfacing materials is a new application field for PCBN tools. An investigation of the cutting temperature is essential in understanding the machining mechanism of the material, thus to improve the process efficiency. In this work, cutting temperatures of two typical hardfacing materials were studied using a mixed experimental and numerical approach—remote thermocouple technique and finite element (FE) simulation. The effect of microstructure and machining parameters on the cutting temperatures were comparatively investigated using titanium alloy as a reference material. The average cutting temperatures of the hardfacings were found to be ranged from 600 to 700 °C and increased with higher cutting speed and feedrate. A hardfacing with larger carbide grains showed lower cutting temperatures and exhibited lower increase rate with cutting speed and feedrate.