Knowledge of the performance of a biodegradable cutting fluid and its adverse effects on the resulting surface roughness and cutting forces on the work material as well on the tool will provide machining operators and manufacturers worldwide with an alternative to mineral based cutting fluids. Reasoning for the replacements of conventional machining oils being that mineral based cutting fluids may result in potential health hazards to the users within close proximity of the cutting operations. The objective of this experiment is to evaluate the resulting surface roughness and cutting forces using an alternative vegetable oil, namely palm oil and its variants, namely crude oil palm and the more refines palm olein.