PURPOSE: To enable effective formation of an oil film and suppression of noise and to improve productivity by executing successively a state for rolling a steel sheet with rolls having grid-shaped projections to form grid-shaped grooves continuously to at least one face of the steel sheet, stage for finish rolling such steel sheet with smoothing rolls and stage for blanking the sheet to clutch plates.

CONSTITUTION: The steel strip 2 is grasped under pressure in the thickness direction and cold rolled by a pair of the rolls 1 having the grid-shaped projections 11 on the outer peripheral part in the rolling stage for forming the grooves. The grid-shaped grooves 20 inclined at approximately 45° with the longitudinal direction of the strip 2 are continuously arrayed and provided on both faces of the strip 2. The strip 2 is then grasped by a pair of the smoothing rolls 4 having smooth outer peripheral surfaces, by which the surfaces are finish-rolled in the finish rolling stage. The strip 2 formed with the grooves 20 is blanked to the grooved clutch plate 5 by press dies in the blanking stage. The clutch plates are thereafter subjected to deburring and molybdenum coating.