Abstract The consequences induced by the cut, in terms of residual stresses, strongly depend on the operating conditions and the evolution of the wear of the cutting tools. This wear is indeed a complex phenomenon to study due to the multitude of its origins, in particular physico-chemical (affinities between certain constituent materials of the plate/part pair, etc.) or thermo-mechanical (abrasion, diffusion, adhesion, etc.).). Also, the wear of the cutting tools has a considerable impact on the course of the cutting operation: increased cutting forces, vibrations, etc. In our work, the main goal is to develop a finite element cutting model, using the ABAQUS© calculation code, to simulate the wear of cutting tools. We are interested in the case of the orthogonal cut of low alloy steel 42CrMo4, widely used in the industrial environment, and this by an uncoated tungsten carbide tool.