Comparative studies on the wear resistance of modular milling cutters made of high-speed steel P18 with subsequent diffusion discrete oxidation are carried out. The paper considers physical and chemical regularities of formation of discrete diffusion oxidation, designed for hardening and wear resistance of high-speed cutting tools. The results of research of structure and properties of structural alloyed steels due to formation of discrete diffusion oxidation are presented. It is established that the technology of discrete oxidation allows to increase the wear resistance of complex profile cutting tools by 80...85 % in comparison with the traditional technology (TiCr)N.