A novel chatter suppression method in boring operation is proposed in the present study. The anisotropic boring tool with a step portion and notches on the cylinder periphery is designed, which has anisotropic dynamic characteristics. Since the direct and the cross transfer function components of the proposed tool are designed to cancel out each vibration, the nominal compliance of the boring tool in cutting process can be reduced significantly. Hammering tests of the developed tool clarified that appropriate anisotropic frequency response function is roughly attained by the proposed design. The developed tool was subsequently applied to turning experiments, and it was clarified that the stability limit in the radial depth of cut significantly increases by using the proposed boring tool as compared to the ordinary boring tool. (C) 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Professor Konrad Wegener