Cutting insert

A powder metallurgy process for manufacturing a cutting insert having a cutting head and a coupling shank integral at one end thereof with said cutting head and including a screw threaded portion, said cutting insert being formed by a powder metallurgy process of compacting and sintering and said screw threaded portion being constituted by a substantially cylindrical body having a pair of diametrically opposed, longitudinally truncated planar portions interposed between substantially curved cylindrical portions having arcuate surfaces on which there are formed a non-continuous screw thread, said arcuate surfaces extending between 50 to 85% of the total peripheral extent of the cylindrical body of which they form part, said process including the steps of compacting a metal powder in a mold cavity of a die set between a pair of die punches displaceable within said cavity, and forming said screw and clamping portions between arcuate surfaces of said punches and substantially planar walls of said mold cavity.