The invention concerns the use of a WC--Co cutting metal alloy for a component or a tool insert, which is shaped from a corresponding cutting metal blank by means of an electrical discharge processing method. The WC fraction in the carbide phase of the cutting metal alloy is more than 90 wt %; the binder phase consists mostly of cobalt and is 8 to 15 wt % with reference to the cutting metal alloy. 0.1 to 3 wt % of one or more metals from the group Re, Ge, Ga, Ir, Os, Pd, Ag, Au, Pt, Te, Sb, Rh, and Ru, with reference to the binder phase, are dissolved in the binder phase.