Most of what I make on the lathe is titanium so yes, for that I won't bother with HSS. I tried them on Ti didn't last long. I'm also not that experienced with grinding tool bits. The few HSS tools I had I made at the local community college on their grinder. My bench grinder at home sucks but I do have a somewhat decent belt grinder now. I keep telling myself I may try HSS again for aluminum but I guess I'm too lazy. Really I have no interest. I actually bid on a lot of NOS Latrobe blanks not too long ago but went for more than I wanted to pay. I have so many inserts that I have paid $1-$3 ea when there were crazy deals on ebay that I seriously may not have to buy inserts for my most used tools for the next 20+ yrs.