Adhesive accumulation of work material on the tool surface is today a major problem in many sheet metal-forming applications. Different laboratory test methods are used to investigate galling with respect to different tool materials, lubricants and process conditions. In the present study, the galling resistance of a modern nitrogen-alloyed powder metallurgy tool steel and an conventional ingot cast D2 type tool steel was evaluated under lubricated sliding against ferritic stainless steel sheets using a commercial pin-on-disc (POD) and an in-house made slider-on-flat-surface (SOFS) tribotester. The investigated tool steels ranked similarly in terms of galling resistanc in both test methods. However, sliding distances to galling were longer for the SOFS equipment due to continuous sliding on new lubricated sheet surface. Best performance was demonstrated by the powder metallurgy tool steel treated to 65?HRC. Differences in friction behaviour and galling initiation were analysed on the basis of the two different working conditions, i.e. open (SOFS) and closed (POD) tribosystems. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.