By a direct examination of chip formation while machining, a considerable amount of data pertinent to the development of the theory of metal cutting can be obtained. However, the microscopically heterogeneous plastic flow involved in the process calls for high magnification observations. To facilitate this, a new cutting stage has been designed and built to carry out metal cutting studies within a scanning electron microscope. Permanent records of the dynamic cutting operations are then obtained by videotaping the experimental results. This paper describes the stage designed and briefly summarizes the results obtained.