Thread: Shaving with obsidian.

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.


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.

Originally Posted by Gibbs

thebigspendur is right. They are extremely brittle and for the most part and not even contoured always to make any king of good razor.

So no 7-day set in the offing?

Originally Posted by Gibbs

I've done flint knapping, that is, the making of stone arrowheads and knives from obsidian and jasper, and agate. There is not a stropped razor made on this planet that can compete with the sharp edge of a flake of obsidian. Under an electron microscope, the best razor looks like some jagged cross cut saw compared to obsidian flake. It wa studies and some places have used obsidian flakes for very fine surgery. Holding it at the right angle would be the trick. But since it's a crystaline formation of a rock, it would not wear down like steel agains the whiskers.

Ref: Ancient Technology in Contemporary Surgery

I have the same experience and I'm right there with you. I remember when I was first learning to knap using a stone hammer to remove a flake and having it drive right into the side of my finger. I could not believe anything could be that sharp.

Originally Posted by Gibbs

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.


I have a few stone knives and such in my drawer, some obsidian, and others made of chert and other material, even agate.

Wow is that point beautiful. Never made anything that nice.