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An experimental study of the “size effect” in machining – substantial increase in the specific cutting energy with decrease in chip size – is described. An instrumented ultramicrotomy technique employing “ideally” sharp glass and diamond knives is developed to characterize the forces and specific energies in slow-speed orthogonal cutting of pure copper, with depths of cut in the range of 30 nm to a few micrometers. The increased role of friction and intermolecular adhesion at small-scale tool-chip contacts is shown to be the primary factor underlying the size effect. Implications for using machining chip-formation to explore the mechanics of adhesive (plastic) sliding contacts are discussed.