Abstract Out of the various non-traditional machining processes used these days, Electric Discharge Machining (EDM) has its own place for the machining of hard materials and creating intricate shapes in difficult-to-machine materials. The current research work focusses on the measurement of recast layer thickness of AISI-D3 tool steel using the rotary tool EDM process. The recast layer is an undesirable property of the material and a demerit of this process. The rotary tool EDM helps to reduce the thickness of this layer significantly. The average recast layer thickness (RLT) obtained with the rotary tool EDM process is 40.26 μm whereas it comes out to be 69.03 μm for the stationary tool EDM. The results show that the rotation of the tool reduces the recast layer thickness significantly.