Thread: And you guys thought you were shaving the old fashioned way....

Originally Posted by xman

That was my thought too. And if you had anything like a micro nick in there you could scratch yourself up pretty good. Now those are the obvious drawbacks and not too intense. What about the obvious error. "Sharpest edge known to science". perhaps to natural science, but carbon nano tubing would be sharper I'm sure, not to mention that they can program nanites to build edges which are one molecule thick. Now that obvious stuff is out of the way. Can anybody corroborate that obsidian is sharper than a honemeister's edge? I'm skeptical.

Way sharper. We did some flaking off an obsidian core in an archaeology class and it blew my mind. Obsidian is a truly cryptocrystalline structure, which means it has the ability to fracture in straight lines (no microchips!) on a molecular level. It really is unbelievably sharp, it's just too fragile to reliably transport or maintain.


I'll keep my steel...

Originally Posted by xman

That was my thought too. And if you had anything like a micro nick in there you could scratch yourself up pretty good. Now those are the obvious drawbacks and not too intense. What about the obvious error. "Sharpest edge known to science". perhaps to natural science, but carbon nano tubing would be sharper I'm sure, not to mention that they can program nanites to build edges which are one molecule thick. Now that obvious stuff is out of the way. Can anybody corroborate that obsidian is sharper than a honemeister's edge? I'm skeptical.

There's actually a doctor that uses obsidian for eye surgery because of the smooth cutting edge and superior cutting edge. He had an article in JAMA a few years back. Got this off wiki:

"Obsidian has been used for blades in surgery, as well-crafted obsidian blades have a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical scalpels, the cutting edge of the blade being only about 3 nanometers thick.[15] Even the sharpest metal knife has a jagged, irregular blade when viewed under a strong enough microscope; when examined even under an electron microscope an obsidian blade is still smooth and even. One study found that obsidian incisions produced narrower scars, fewer inflammatory cells, and less granulation tissue in a group of rats.[16]Don Crabtree produced obsidian blades for surgery and other purposes,[15] and has written articles on the subject."

I was watching a show on PBS a few years ago and there was a segment on obsidian tools. The guy demonstrated how sharp they were when he napped a knife size chunk and skinned a dear like you were pulling the skin off of a boiled chicken. I was impressed.

Originally Posted by jeffegg2

I watched the video and don't really understand. When he takes a stroke, it leaves behind a ton of shaving cream. If the blade was so sharp would we just see bare skin?
Kinda tells me it is not so sharp...

I agree, it doesn't seem that sharp to me either. Also, if I used his technique with a straight, I would be calling for an ambulance!

Originally Posted by Firefighter2

I agree, it doesn't seem that sharp to me either. Also, if I used his technique with a straight, I would be calling for an ambulance!

My guess is he isn't really shaving with it-- he knows he could, but also how easy it would be to flay his own face... obsidian is frighteningly sharp, and I would be hesitant to put it right to the skin of my face even with my experience as a straight shaver.

I've actually tried to shave with an obsidian blade , and found it to be quite inferior to a straight razor . Although it would shave , it didn't do it well . The blade skipped over my stubble shaving very little of it , kind of like a razor that isn't quite shave ready . I quickly put the obsidian down , and finished shaving with a real straight razor , saving myself from some serious razor burn .