Shaving with an Obsidian Razor


(Video Link)


Some of you sissies are still shaving with sharpened shovels. But Mike Cook does it old school--as in using Stone Age technology. Watch him knap a slice of obsidian off a block and then shave his face with it.

Cook refers to obsidian as "the sharpest substance known to science." I don't know if that's true, but at the link, you can see electron micrographs of a surgical scalpel and an obsidian blade. The obsidian appears to have a sharper edge.

Link

Unfortunately, sharpness isn't the only thing you care about when you look at material qualities. Harder substances can have sharper edges, but that also means they are more brittle. Metal supplanted hard stone long ago because it made more durable tools. Composite materials offer more interesting alternatives in the modern day as we learn how to layer different materials together to combine properties in ways not previously possible before we gained the ability to control composition on the molecular level.
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Yeah, it is true - the sharpest thing we have discovered is actually ancient tech - until we discover how to make a nanotube blade, I think we have the best we can use in obsidian. Sort of cool. Copper is also making a comeback in the operation theater as it has natural antimicrobial properties...
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