I have a feeling this would go the same way as using a ceramic edge as a razor. it doesn't work. The obsidian is basically volcanic glass. It is very brittle. As a surgical instrument-very small and for very detailed work yes but for a razor-no.
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I have a feeling this would go the same way as using a ceramic edge as a razor. it doesn't work. The obsidian is basically volcanic glass. It is very brittle. As a surgical instrument-very small and for very detailed work yes but for a razor-no.
Rick knows exactly what he's talking about.
They are sharp, but it would be impossible to sharpen just one sliver of a flake that came off. It's plentiful, and you merely strike off another flake.
Here is a Scottsbluff Point that Larry Waldron, the guy that taught me, had made. The pattern is of the Scossbluff find of early Paleo-Indians. He does excellent work and I enjoyed learning from him.
http://vernsdidj.com/pictures/misc/S...narrowbase.jpg
I have a few stone knives and such in my drawer, some obsidian, and others made of chert and other material, even agate.
thebigspendur is right. They are extremely brittle and for the most part and not even contoured always to make any king of good razor. They do work, as he said, for some extremely fine surgery work. They do, and they have.