Science Fiction Knife Making Methods

tryppyr

tryppyr

Joined
Feb 5, 2010
Messages
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In another thread I was contemplating forging and quenching, and it occurred to me that the methods we use to make knives on earth are pretty crude. Little wonder we have so few knives made of Unobtainium. We haven't invented the methods to properly process it.

So let's examine what those methods might be.

First, it needs to be understood that Unobtainium is a virtually indestructible material... which is good for the end user, but exponentially increases the difficulty of processing it for the manufacturer of quality knives.

When last I checked, a standard batch of Unobtainium required a forging temperature of 2.5 million degrees (F). Since most earth-bound forges have trouble maintaining that temperature for the needed soak time, alternate forging methods must be developed. I propose the use of a quantum wormhole forge, that directly links the space-time coordinates between the knifemakers work shop and the photosphere of a nearby white dwarf star. Of course, to protect the shop for the blast of the forge, you'll need a suitable magnetic envelop to serve as the door for the forge.

Also, because Unobtainium must be quenched as near absolute zero as possible, the only realistic means of quenching is to have a second quantum wormhole that links the work shop with a point in space as least 5 million light years from the nearest heat source. Again the magnetic envelope would be needed, this time to keep the air of the shop from being sucked into the infinite void.

Finally, we must consider the means of hammering and grinding a piece of Unobtainium. Here, I'm afraid, I can offer little help. The only known means is to use hammers and files that are themselves made of well hardened Unobtainium... which creates a conundrum. How does one shape Unobtainium if wone need tools made of Unobtainium to do so?

Perhaps Nick or Rick can weigh in on this, since they have all of the known supplies of Unobtainium.

- Greg
 
I think you need to create progressively harder tools with progressively harder materials until you have a set hard enough to operate on annealed unobtanium. Then you can make unobtanium tools. It might take 8 or 10 sets of tools to make your final set. Then don't break 'em.

It would be nice to ditch the gas bill in favor of a hydrogen "forge", but the electricity required to maintain the magnetic doors would be serious. You'd probably want huge permanent magents (so you don't get swallowed/incinerated during a power blip) for the seal, and then electromagnets to hold the necessary opening in those permanent fields. The nice thing is that you'd be able to tune the aperture, much like an electron beam is tuned in a CRT, for those of you that remember actual boob tubes.

-Daizee
 
Boy am I glad that I caught you guys before you tried using a supramagnetic containment field for forging unobtainium! The containment fields need to be at least 200 LY apart or the inductive pulse when you transfer the piece for quenching.... You get the picture, it is likely to create a flash. Yep. SUPERNOVA. That's what happens when your wormholes breach the containment field and mate. The sudden gush of superheated white dwarf photosphere into the adjoining quantum wormhole... The scream of ionizing energy would affect every entity within a 1000 LY.

Now the way to do it is to use the more modern compressed gravimetric containment and and forging fields. I know the Chion Galyxy uses the magnetic forging fields to cut costs but their best edges are nanometers wide and the best hardness - RHz - 3000, about 30000 on the RHc scale. No Vorpal blade there. A true master at gravimetric forging can run a true neutron edge less than .001 nanometers wide and the hardness RHz 6000+. A true Vorpal blade. Good luck.
 
Greg,
If you would do a search you would see that this subject has been covered often. I am surprised that you have not done your research. There are several things wrong with your hypothesis. I will address the main two:

1) You are (wrongly) assuming that one could get unobtanium. Moving beyond the obvious descriptive nomenclature, the fact is that unobtanium is the source material for the universe. It only existed at the time of the Big Bang, as a singularity. You might describe it as an unstable element , of infinite density, with a half-life of 0² years.

This can easily be calculated using the standard formula for the half life of an element-

AE = Ao * 0.5(raised to the power of)t/t½

When:
AE = amount of substance left
Ao = original amount of substance
t = elapsed time
t½ = half-life of the substance

Substituting;
Ao=∞
t= 0, (and conversely) t½ equals 0

You get:

AE=∞*.5 to the power of (0 over ½0)

Resulting in:
AE=0 ..........which means there is no unobtanium left.



2) All the above is true. Now, for the sake of debate, lets ignore point one and move to shaping the unobtanium blade.
For shaping the blade you could try using proton packs, but be very careful not to cross the streams..it could be very bad. Using wormholes in close proximity is the identical situation (just sort of in reverse).
Why would that be a very bad problem in working unobtanium?

Einstein's formula ,E=MC², shows that to create the heat/energy needed you would have to convert the mass of the entire universe into energy. The same goes for creating a worm hole, BTW.

So it would be bad....how bad????
As said by Egon Spengler, the inventor of the proton pack, ( he wrote his dissertation on worm holes,BTW)....." It would be bad.… Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."



Wow...that was a weird feeling, I am sure I just felt a shift in The Force?????
 
Well, color me dissapointed!! I spent a long time searching the web for a forum that would provide expert answers insights and intelligent insights to my knife making questions, and I thought I had finally found the right spot. Then, this morning I find it cluttered with claptrap about Unobtainium, wormholes and the Chion Galaxy! I didn’t pay my fees for this kind of drivel, and trying to drag Einstein into it doesn’t make it any more legitimate!

In short, if you’re going to pontificate, you should know whereof you speak.

Any seven year old, texting his way through the second grade, can tell you that the urban legend of “Unobtainium” is, in reality, only a vague ancestral memory we have of the mythic metal “Obduratum” which was formed towards the end of the second Chaoskampfian era. The references to the extremely high heat needed to work Obduratum come as a result of modern day misunderstandings of the lightning bolt and dragon fire technology of the day.

Very little Obduratum was produced before the end of the era and, although virtually indestructible, much less has survived the eons since its creation. I am fortunate enough to have several billets (no, it’s not for sale), but the dragon fire still eludes me…

Ok, rant over. Even though you are all misinformed on the subject of Unobtainium, I must credit your enthusiastic inventiveness, and I will continue to frequent the forum in search of the more mundane knife making revelations. …and dragon fire.


Dick
 
I just reread my last post and it occured to me that I may be asking you all to take a lot on faith. Now, please understand, possession of obduratum carries with it stringent obligations of preservation, protection and secrecy. That said, after much soul searching and in the full knowledge that I shall have to move my shop to a new, undisclosed location, I have decided to offer proof of the existance of obduratum.


Dick
 

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Oh, so now you pop into this thread with your two years on BF and not even 100 posts ,.....and suddenly you are an expert on rare metals and nuclear metallurgy.
You need to re-read more than your last post...you need to read a good book on the subject and stop doing Google searches.

As to your claims - They are total BS - anyone can buy obduratum in the former Soviet countries. It is called КРЕПКИЙ МЕТАЛЛИЧЕСКИЙ there. It was left in most of their massive particle accelerators where it was used to stop proton beams accelerated to near the speed of light. The program ended when the Soviet union collapsed into bankruptcy. The metals were scrapped through Czechoslovakian junk yards, and can often be found sitting out in the rain next to rusted Lada and Kamaz engines.

I expected the obduratum supporters to chime in with their folk-lore drivel and hatred of modern science. Why is it easier to believe in alchemy and ancient folk tales than it is to believe in what is clearly written in any science book available to a high school senior. The FACTS I listed are real...your dragon fire and forging in a thunderstorm are the result of too much time in the sweat lodge, chewing some sort of weed.

Trying to claim that Einstein isn't a good justification for the math listed is just the type of knee jerk reflex I would expect from your camp. It is part of the "Yo Momma" insult strategy used on playgrounds by kids. Grow up and read a real book.


Any more of this type of stuff and I'll have to lock this thread. If I have to ban all of your clan , including your ukulele playing, painted face chieftain, I will.....so don't push me!!!!!
 
Stacy, you make a strong argument for technology, but I can’t find it in me to deny the clan lore of a thousand generations.
Also,

I did read a real book…once.
It isn’t weed, its seeds.
The chief plays a zither.

:highly_amused:

Dick
 
Stacy, if you square zero again - you will likely cause a rift in the space time continuum.


Well, I am off to divide by zero....


TF
 
It's certainly fortunate that I started this thread BEFORE investing in the technology, let alone implementing it. Good lord, it's just amazing how stupid I am sometimes.
 
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