Originally posted by SIFU1A
i have a G10 (i think) executive letter opener i bought years ago for $5, have only used it for.......opening envelopes!! no other real uses i dont think....
greg
That material isnt G-10. Its zytel or similar. G-10 is much more dense, and much tougher.
Originally posted by Minjin
While we're kind of on the topic, what about obsidian? Isn't obsidian still used because its capable of being sharper than steel? How does one even go about making a real knife out of this stuff? I've looked on ebay and found a bunch but they're all extremely crude. And being a form of glass, its about as non-magnetic as it gets.
An obsidian blade is capable of having an edge that cuts on the molecular level. (Think about that for a minute... its just like it sounds).
I wouldnt think it would be possible to grind it to have such an edge, but the traditional method of making an obsidian knife is to knap it.
This is the same process native americans would have used, and very often using the same tools.
When the obsidian piece is struck with the "hammer" (harder stone, in a desirable shape... also sometimes a piece of antler, altho I've never seen it used too much) a flake comes off.
Think about when you shoot a pane of glass with a BB gun. and sometimes a nice little conical piece of glass pops out the back side where the BB hit. Very similar with the obsidian flake, acepts its only like half that little conical glass piece.
A good knapper knows what part of his obsidian chunk to hit, to knock off the desired flakes.
Its a matter of simply shipping away what isnt needed, and making sure the edges of the blade/arrowhead are all chipped down as thin as they can be. Chips around the edge are knocked off, sheered off almost, and whats left is that molecule thin cutting edge.
Obsidian surgical blades (scalpels) are being used now days, but I dont know how they make them. I've been told the two doctors who came up with the idea made their own the first time, for a surgery one of them was about to go through. I'd assume any done "mass production" would be made with fine fine glass cutting tools, capable of machining obsidian down to that same thin edge.
It'd have to be really fine machinery though, as I am pretty sure you couldnt do it on a regular grinder.
hopefully that made sense... its been a really long time (5 years) since I was at a Flint-Knapping demonstration... and had a chance to talk about this stuff with an expert.
I have a beautiful spear head one of the knappers made for me, out of red and black obsidian. (Yes, its two coloured, red and black, beautiful stuff. but wont scan worth a crap, so I dont have any pics of it... dount I could get any to do it justice.)
Someday I'd like to find someone who was really good at traditional knapping methods, and have them make me a stag-handled drop point out of red and black obsidian like that, with a fringed leather sheath, with turquoise, and red coral bead work.
