Tool damages including plastic deformation and wear are affected by forging load, thermal load and frictional slide applied to tool surface. Plastic deformation of forging tools proceeds in the tool corer owing to elevated temperature, high contact pressure and severe frictional slide. Hard layers on the tool surface increase plastic deformation resistance and thermal resistance. The optimal design of hard layer structure reduces the tool damage and improves tool life. Temperature and equivalent strain of forging tools are influenced by friction shear factor, contact thermal conductance and contact time between the tool and the workpiece. At the friction shear factor of less than 0.4, equivalent strain of the tool is reduced. At the friction shear factor of approximately 0.4 or greater, equivalent strain increases sharply and concentrates in the vicinity of the surface hard layer. This tendency becomes more significant when the contact time between the tool and the workpiece increases. Equivalent strain is reduced by low workpiece temperature.