This report is a presentation of results from the laboratory tests of the project Electrical Discharge Machining of Tools in Cold Work Applications. Two high speed steels, two cold work ingot cast and forged steels, and one powder metallurgical cold work steel at hardness from 51 to 66 HRc were included in the study. In the first part of the report differences between the various tool steels in how they respond to electrical discharge machining (EDM) are discussed. Surface alterations, defect distributions, static and fatigue strength are included as well as wire and die sinking EDM, both rough and fine. In the second part some post EDM treatments are examined. The effect of tempering and shot peening after EDM on mechanical properties of the tool steel is shown and a comparison of mechanical polishing and electrochemical polishing (ECP) is given. Since cold work tool steels are being used at increasing hardness, the third part is a study where the hardness of two tool steels has been varied in order to see how important this is to the effect of EDM on mechanical properties of the steel. In the last part the combination of EDM, mechanical or electrochemical polishing and thin ceramic surface coatings are studied, one CVD and one PVD coating