The Gun Counter

Interesting site, ran across it the other day. The guy makes and sells stone knives. Flint knapping, it's called:

http://www.knappinjack.com/knives-custom-stone.html

Some of them look quite nice, actually. I wonder if the fancy ones with various colors might chip or break along the boundaries between colors?

His points (arrowheads) look nice too.

Reminds me of this for some reason.

Bronze Age Orientation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EGAtLGDU7M

Obsidian scalpels are used by eye surgeons because they are sharp--sharper then any metal scalpel.

There are lots of flint knappers out there selling blades, Clovis spear heads and arrowheads for the primitive archers.

Stan Payne

Tony Stanfield

Dale Ruby

Lethal Lithics - Barry Howe -- music warning

Sparrow Creek - Travis Smolinski

Grge Nunn

Dixie Knapper - Don Sutton

David Semones

SeekHer wrote:Obsidian scalpels are used by eye surgeons because they are sharp--sharper then any metal scalpel.

Especially regarding the cost. I've heard of some scalpel blades sharpened to the degree you'd need an electron microscope to examine the edge, but these blades are NOT cost effective for every-day, usual use blades. Whereas an Obsidian blade knocked down to a tiny edge (and EXTREMELY SHARP) is going to be a LOT cheaper than the minute-tolerance engineered blade, even if they're still quite expensive.

There's NO DOUBT science can manufacture a blade much sharper than anything created by working a piece of Obsidian, but doing so would CERTAINLY NOT be cost effective for the number of blades requested/required and the procedures involved.

HOW sharp do you need the blade to be to get the job done, and how much are you willing to pay for the sharpness for the procedure? That's going to determine how you're going to approach the problem of the blades.

Once the initial demand is established, the economics of scale will take over and drop the prices.

You always hear about razor sharpness--My axe, machete, kukhri etc. it has to be razor sharp...The only reason a razor is as sharp as it is--the thinness of the material and the angle of the bevel (edge) not because of some super, secret method of sharpening it...Most razors only required a leather strop to realign the edge to sharpness.

A super sharp axe is actually a danger as they get stuck in the wood--because the edge is too thin so it cuts but doesn't cleave or destroy the wood fibre...Racing axes, the sharpest used only have about a 22½ degree bevel.

You can get obsidian and flint knives for $45 to $145 depending on size, thickness and handle material.

The obsidian blades have been used in Stateside surgeries since before WW1.

I'm not so sure that cost is a factor in a scapel blade - and, "science" is involved, to an extent, in knapping.

I don't think the scapels are actually "knapped" like a normal stone tool - I presume they are more like flakes - and I think it would be rather hard to make a sharper metal implement.

You could, in theory, do a blade shaped by deposition, but I don't know if that can be done reliably, or if there is a reason to do so. I do know that an obsidian blade is sharp enough to cut you before you can feel it.