A skiving tool comprising a cutter head (2) having a plurality of cutter blade mounting and positioning slots (8) arranged spaced, preferably equidistant, about the periphery (7) of the cutter head with the blade slots, and hence the cutting blades (4), preferably oriented perpendicular to the axis of rotation (A) of the cutter head. Alternatively, the blade slots may be inclined from the perpendicular orientation by less than 50 degrees, preferably less than 20 degrees, thereby forming a conical shaped cutter. Additionally, the blade slots may be positioned to extend radially from the cutter head axis whereby the longitudinal axis of a cutter blade will intersect the cutter head axis, or the blade slots may be radially offset from the cutter head axis. The blade slots may have any cross-sectional shape such as square, rectangular or those types having generally V-shaped seating surfaces (10) comprising a pair of angled mounting surfaces (12, 14) each less than 90 degrees. In contrast to known cutting blade configurations, the cutting blade (4) of the present invention has its cutting face (16) formed in a surface of the cutting blade that is located opposite to the seating surface or V-shaped seating surfaces (13, 15) of the cutting blade.