In mining oceanic cobalt-rich crust, one of the important steps is to cut and strip the crust. In this paper, using the research findings of cutting mechanism of soft rock with cutting tools for reference, a new method to cut cobalt-rich crust with cutting tool combined with waterjet is put forward, the mechanism of cutting cobalt-rich crust by cutting tool combined with waterjet is studied , and the advantage in using self-controlled hydropick to break cobalt-rich crust is analyzed. This paper provides a theoretical base for searching new cutting methods of cobalt-rich crust .