HIGH-SPEED TOOL STEEL, MATERIAL FOR TOOLS, AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING MATERIAL FOR TOOLS

Provided are: a high-speed tool steel having excellent hot workability, and excellent damage resistance when being made into various tools; a material for tools, and a method for producing a material for tools. The high-speed tool steel contains, in mass%, 0.9-1.2% of C, 0.1-1.0% of Si, 1.0% or less of Mn, 3.0-5.0% of Cr, 2.1-3.5% of W, 9.0-10.0% of Mo, 0.9-1.2% of V, 5.0-10.0% of Co, 0.020% or less of N, and the balance being Fe and impurities, wherein an M value calculated by a formula satisfies -1.5 ‰¤ M value ‰¤ 1.5. Formula: M value = -9.500 + 9.334[%C] - 0.275[%Si] - 0.566[%W] - 0.404[%Mo] + 3.980[%V] + 0.166[%Co], where the characters in brackets [] indicate the contained amounts (mass%) of the respective elements. The present invention also pertains to: a material for tools, which is obtained by using the high-speed tool steel; and a method for producing the material for tools.