The invention relates to a cylindrical cutter, the roller body of which comprises grooves provided along the length thereof at a distance from one another and at an angle to the longitudinal axis. Indexable inserts, particularly coated hard metal inserts, are disposed in the grooves. In order to largely prevent axial forces from acting on the milling cutter or on the material to be worked, eitherthe grooves and thus the cutting edges of the indexable inserts are aligned sectionally at different angles, said angles being selected such that the axial forces generated in the one section during the milling process are neutralized or are reduced to a defined degree by the axial forces generated in the neighboring section, or the indexable inserts are disposed or aligned alternately in the grooves such that the axial force generated by one indexable insert during the milling process is neutralized by the axial force generated by the neighboring indexable insert.