This invention relates to a sintered hard metal for cutting tools and having excellent wear resistance, resistance to thermal deformation, mechanical strength and the like. The present invention resides in the fact that the substrate metal consists of a rich content of the B-1 type hard phase and the surface thin layer consists of a rich content of the ordinary tungsten carbide. B-1 type crystal structure contains one or more Group IVa, Va and VIa metals, carbon, nitrogen and, moreover, tungsten. The thin layer structure has the layer of 5 to 200.mu. thickness on the surface thereof.