Friction is a fundamental phenomenon in tribology involving complex mechanisms between thecontacting surfaces. Measurements of friction are often made using devices with substantially largercontact area than dimensions corresponding to microstructural features of the materials. Hence, for multi-phase materials,influence of particular microstructural constituents is not resolved. In the present work, a tribometerwith a contact area in the nano-scale range was used to map friction for different types of tool steelswith different chemical- and phase composition. Owing to the small tip radius, frictionalcharacteristics of primary carbides and the steel matrix were measured and compared. Dependingon chemical composition, a difference was observed where the coefficient of friction wasapproximately twice higher for the steel possessing highest coefficient of friction, including bothcarbides and the steel matrix.