This paper introduces a method to use the cutting force profile, measured from a Kistler dynamometer, to calibrate a mechanistic based force model containing four cutting coefficients. The undesirable effects of tool vibration and force sensor dynamics are minimized by carefully choosing experimental conditions. Cutting force profiles provide an array of force versus chip thickness based values that can be used in a regression fit to find the model coefficients. Results show that different ranges of chip thickness used in the calibration process result in slightly different cutting coefficients, which implies chip thickness has an effect on cutting coefficients. The force profile based cutting coefficients are then used in the cutting force model to estimate the peak resultant cutting force. Comparison of model estimates and measured values show less than 10% error.