Anyone use a stone knife?

Will Batayte

Will Batayte

Joined
Jan 8, 2007
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I was just thinking about knapped knives and was wondering if anyone has or does regularly use a stone bladed knife. Flint, obsidion, or other. If so how do or did you find the general charecteristics. Sharpness, efficiency, edge holding. Anything that comes to mind. I'm just curious
 
I don't own any stone knives but from what I've read they can be knapped to the molecular edge much sharper than even medical scalpels. Not a very durable edge if it hits bone or kitchen counter but sharper than most metal knife edges.
 
Yeah I've heard that too. But I heard that it's usually a small flake of obsidion that aquires this type of edge rather then a large knapped blade. But it was this in part that sparked my curiosity of stone edges.
 
I'm not that familiar with them but I have heard the same as Basser. Apparently they are capable of obtaining extreme sharpness-the better made ones having edges so thin that they're transparent. There're youtube videos where you can see this.

I doubt that they're efficient though and the edges would be high maintenance since you'd have to know how to flint knap yourself in order to resharpen.
 
Don't have one, but have had my eyes on these (from A.G. Russell):

bG5645X.jpg
 
I have used flint once for skining it worked but it was.nt easy .
 
I took an Experimental Archaeology class in college many years ago where we had the option of knapping some obsidian to compare with modern knives and of course I said "hell yeah!" Its hard to keep an edge straight and the chipped off pieces are so razor+ sharp that it is almost impossible not to get a few cuts on your hands, but the obsidian cuts meat and hide very well, and knapped flint can work wood well. I know I still have my obsidian knife somewhere, but I can't find it. Eventually the individual facet edges flake off, and the consensus was overall lots of fear of those flakes making it into food. Overall, a cool experience that I wouldn't want to rely on, but it does explain why obsidian was such a highly prized trade item among Pre-Columbian natives.
 
Opthamologists sometimes use obsidian scalpels during surgery because of how fine the edge can get. Stone blades tend to be very brittle, however, and don't tolerate lateral stress well at all. I've toyed around with flint knapping, and while it's not hard to get a piece of obsidian razor sharp, achieving/maintaining the desired shape is, and it won't hold an edge well against something hard like wood. Stone blades definitely have a coolness factor to them though--it's fun to mess around with the oldest knife technology there is.
 
There are a variety of primitive skills events where you can get instruction and lots of experience knapping. The one I've been to is "Rabbit stick" on the shores of the Snake River outside Rexberg, Idaho in mid September. You could spend the whole week knapping chert and obsidian if you wanted, but there is so much more to do, I don't think you could do just that. Great event, only $300 if you register early. Includes camping fee and 2 meals per day for a week.
 
I've used it, it's tougher than you think.

I stopped knapping obsidian about a year after I learned how, way to much blood loss.
I couldn't touch the stuff with out bleeding, sold most of what I had.
Ended up giving away my last 20 pound chunk.

Flint is different than obsidian as far as toughness goes. It's just as sharp just in a different way, flint holds its edge a lot longer, but that depends on what kind of flint it is too.

not all flints are the same, horn stone is close to perfect but Kentucky blue is easier to knap, just no color. Flint ridge flint has gem quality but some of it has to be cooked before you can knap it.

can't really generalize it, its all different.

this ones horn stone, from Indiana.
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this is flint ridge from Ohio
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this is a Danish dagger(not made by me) from Burlington flint, not a real good piece of rock, not all Burlington is like that.
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SaintlyBrees said:
Don't have one, but have had my eyes on these (from A.G. Russell):

bG5645X.jpg
Click to expand...

They look cool, but they weren't meant to be used.

that's a knap over grind from slabbed out obsidian in an antler handle with dental floss dipped in beeswax(I know it's not actually dental floss, but fake sinew is the same thing) to look like sinew.

Sharp, yes, even remotely accurate historically, nope.

Why would someone put a flint or obsidian blade in an antler handle. It looks cool but as soon as you twist it in any way all its going to do is snap off at the base.

It makes way more sense to put it in a soft wood handle that would have a bit of give to keep from snapping off the base of the point, and ruining the point.

If you actually want to use one there are people that make them to be used and not just displayed in a rack.
Real points, ancient points weren't that thin if they were that long, there had to be some mass running up the center to give it some strength to keep it from snapping off at the base.

Stone age people weren't making art, they were making tools. some of them just happened to beautiful in their utility.
 
I love the idea of an obsidian blade. I found a site selling surgical scalpels with obsidian blades - way more expensive than steel.
I have a 4" sphere of obsidian and keep looking at it and thinking about a small obsidian blade.:) Thing is I've never had a go at knapping so I don't want to ruin a fairly nice object to see if I can knap.
 
heresthedeal said:
They look cool, but they weren't meant to be used.

that's a knap over grind from slabbed out obsidian in an antler handle with dental floss dipped in beeswax(I know it's not actually dental floss, but fake sinew is the same thing) to look like sinew.

Sharp, yes, even remotely accurate historically, nope.

Why would someone put a flint or obsidian blade in an antler handle. It looks cool but as soon as you twist it in any way all its going to do is snap off at the base.

It makes way more sense to put it in a soft wood handle that would have a bit of give to keep from snapping off the base of the point, and ruining the point.

If you actually want to use one there are people that make them to be used and not just displayed in a rack.
Real points, ancient points weren't that thin if they were that long, there had to be some mass running up the center to give it some strength to keep it from snapping off at the base.

Stone age people weren't making art, they were making tools. some of them just happened to beautiful in their utility.
Click to expand...

Of course. I want to make a display with them as the center piece - not to use. ;)
 
heresthedeal said:
They look cool, but they weren't meant to be used.

that's a knap over grind from slabbed out obsidian in an antler handle with dental floss dipped in beeswax(I know it's not actually dental floss, but fake sinew is the same thing) to look like sinew.

Sharp, yes, even remotely accurate historically, nope.

Why would someone put a flint or obsidian blade in an antler handle. It looks cool but as soon as you twist it in any way all its going to do is snap off at the base.

It makes way more sense to put it in a soft wood handle that would have a bit of give to keep from snapping off the base of the point, and ruining the point.

If you actually want to use one there are people that make them to be used and not just displayed in a rack.
Real points, ancient points weren't that thin if they were that long, there had to be some mass running up the center to give it some strength to keep it from snapping off at the base.

Stone age people weren't making art, they were making tools. some of them just happened to beautiful in their utility.
Click to expand...

Good points, never really thought about it when I looked at those knives. I use all my knives so I assumed if I bought a stone one it would see some sort of use. Just for the fun of it more then anything else.
 
My sister gave me one made by a "real" native american at a demonstration at a museum in CT. It's small with a split stick handle, deer sinew and natural glue (boiled some animal part). It will cut vegtables, meat, wood, etc.. You don't want obsidian, too fragile for any type of utility knife work.

Knap-ins are great fun, go if you ever have the chance. I've been to two. Some of the work is art; e.g., glass points made from World Trade Center glass. If you ever go to a knap-in, you will never believe a point is really old unless you picked it up off the ground yourself. You can't carbon date stone. Some people knap with modern materials (e.g. copper in a wood handle), but there are plenty that use bone and are quite capable of executing a piece that is fully authentic, yet modern.

Compared to what you see at a knap-in, those pieces by AGR are toys.
 
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