At present, hard-to-machine materials such as structural alloy steels with various chemical element additives – tungsten, chromium, etc. - are most widely used in engineering. When conventional finish methods are used for the treatment of hard-to-machine materials, the most important problems are the difficulty of obtaining work surfaces of a required quality in terms of accuracy, roughness and the physicochemical composition, and the low output. In the present paper, a finish method for metal treatment– grinding – is discussed. Zones of the formation of the surface stress state due to heating have been revealed: the zone of an insignificant increase in temperature in the contour of the contact of a grinding wheel and a work surface; the zone of the temperature intensive growth; and the zone of the temperature abrupt drop. The investigation has been conducted of the surface layer structure of high-strength and high-chromium steels during high-speed heating – grinding. The peculiarities of the change of the surface layer state of the above steels have been revealed after grinding with the use of conventional grinding wheels with a continuous cutting surface and a discontinuous cutting surface. Some recommendations are given for grinding of the high-strength 12Cr18Ni9 and high-chromium Cr12, Cr12Mo and Cr12V steels, taking into account the specific features of different technological situation characteristic of a specific grinding tool, a grinding tool grade, and conditions of grinding and cutting.