Making an OBSIDIAN Knife!

[ranndomundead]

obsidian knives in the kitchen seem like a solid way to accidentally eat a ton of translucent razors

[WaterjetChannel]

OooOOhh that turned out nice. Love the red and black color combo

[aguyyouwillneverseeagain]

Disclaimer: my hatred of geologists is purely theatrical, but if I did have to kill one for some reason, it would be very easy.
I’d brandish my obsidian knife at them and they’d be compelled to approach. “That’s very cool, ” they’d say, confident in their superior strength and endurance from all the rocks they carry around at all times. They’d shower me with very interesting facts about obsidian and hover just out of range of the cutting edge, waiting for me to exhaust myself. “But as it is volcanic glass, it’s very fragile, you see, and isn’t well-suited for use as a weap—” and then I’d hit them with the wooden baseball bat in my other hand, which they would not have noticed because geologists can only see rocks and minerals.

[CeruleanSeal]

That's very cool!
But as it is volcanic glass, it's very fragile, you see, and isn't well-suited for use as a weap-
*knocked out with a wooden baseball bat*

[cezarcatalin]

Get a flint and steel and light up a nether portal.

[justinbanks]

I relate to so many parts of this... 😂

Oh, I cut myself... Apparently... As there is blood coming from... Somewhere?

(Continues to finish what I was doing while still bleeding...)

Oh, and this bruise here, couldn't even begin to tell you what happened there.

[timacrow]

Obsidian knives were used for eye surgery up until the advent of surgical lasers in the 1990s due to their unparalleled sharpness.

[isaiahshaffer]

Can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been doing something and seen blood, it’s always the immediate “oh crap, where am I leaking that from” 😂

[raarsi-dar]

Having my share of flintknapping (including on obsidian) both in cub scouts and in college as an anthro major, best advice I've ever had on it is to always strike away from you so you won't wind up with a lap full of shards. For obsidian specifically, it was definitely learning the hard way to always have band-aids within easy reach.

While the blade definitely looks good, Mesoamerican cultures made the macuahuitl how it was for a reason: lot more practical having smaller, often more durable bladed portions you can replace rather than one bigger, far more fragile blade.

[willhall]

hey Nate, there are some tools to make for flint knapping that are really easy to make for some percussion knapping with some wooden dowel and copper end caps. you can even fill the end cap with lead for some more weight. steel is a little too hard of a material for knapping and can lead to more energy going into shattering the chips and material instead of breaking it cleanly.

[MercyReigns]

to be honest I was getting tired of seeing new people on TKOR because I only liked you so it's nice to see you have your own channel

[sorrowschism]

that obsidian flake you used to test sharpness is sharper than any steel blade can ever be if you want to learn knapping you can probably find a group or event in your area where you can go get some hands on teaching

[CultureStress]

If you want to continue knapping, definitely look at adjusting your angle of attack and picking your platform (place where you hit the rock) as ways to improve your results

[crushthatdwarf]

All of Nate's long-time fans at 9:12 collectively holding our breath in tense horror as he cuts toward his finger... 🤣

[miguelangeldiaz]

Watching this guy handle an obsidian knife without gloves was giving a panic attack😂 these knives are hella practical. They are the best cutters and if you can a point... a stabber for sure. They make great concealed weapons and undetectable by metal detector. I would love to have a water jet dagger blade made.

[aristothethrone]

hold on. if you still have some of the broken chunks. get one of those uv camera lens filters. and glue them to it and then hit it with some hairspray for a haze effect. and you can make it look like a cave entrance.

[foxfirerobertadams]

Where I work they sell obsidian arrow heads which I got 1 and put a cord round it to turn it into pendant, my is not very sharp being a gift shop item but looks cool

[chrisnightt]

When I was younger I used obsidian I found in the yard as an exacto and it worked surprisingly well. The stone blade stays sharp for a while but dulls fast

[Wheelz]

Turn it into blocks and make a nether portal 🤣🤣

[TaterFarmer]

Knapping is extremely difficult. That why most native arrowheads are half finished and broken. Respect to all the old school natives regardless of origin.