Durability of stone knives

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MarkN86

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I've searched and I'm unable to find much on this. How long/large can a knife made of flint, chert, or obsidian can be before becoming too easily broken? Thin stone is difficult to strike without shattering, so would a ~3" knife made of thicker stone be practical for emergency survival? Should it be more of a scalpel sized blade?

You hear a lot about Native Americans being adept at knife fighting and finishing game with knives, I wonder if the knives were made of bone instead of stone, though. Bone would be superior for hard use/abuse in my mind. Is my thinking correct?
 
Look at archeological finds of the people who used them for a living. A sharp spall is a type of knife, though it isn't usually hafted, but rather palmed. Some fragile obsidian blades were hafted, even to make swords capable of beheading. Stone strength and durability varies widely. In a survival situation, one uses what is at hand. Sometimes reworking it's shape and edge ( by pressure flaking or chipping, or grinding), sometimes as it occurs when broken from a larger stone by smashing.

Yes, bone, stone and even fire hardened wood were used.
 
What many see as a handled primitive knife such as used by Otzi, was likely used more like a serrated blade in a sawing motion.

An unmodified flake is when stone is at it's sharpest, a true slicer. So as an example, if Otzi needed a knife to skin game, he would likely break up a couple pieces of rock on the spot (assuming he had good rock around him). His knife he carried would have been the more durable tool for light carving and separating matter.

For larger projects that require wood removal or shaping, in my experience grinding against a rough surface or fire is more productive. Here is an easy way to make a cutting tool from rock. Again, that unmodified flake will be your sharpest stone tool, but your least durable. Hope that makes sense.

[video=youtube;77TucCtMDy8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77TucCtMDy8[/video]​

Bone can be very durable and can be sharpened, especially to a point great for making needles, awls, and arrowheads - usually made from leg bones. Knives were generally made from splitting rib bones. And if you are in a emergency situation as you mention, you will be making them with stone tools. You have to score the bone with a sharp object, then smash it, then grind it to shape with stone if you have no metal tools.

Not sure where you are, but here in the Southeast, split-cane knives 12" or longer were made by the original locals. Made a good weapon and decent at cutting up fruit, fish and some meat. Fire hardened of course.

Other cutting tools could be shell, the mandible of deer or other animal (think saw), and whatever your imagination comes up with.

Strongly suggest you get the book Practicing Primitive by Steve Watts.

Best of luck!
 
Flesh would be a target, but not the primary one. Skinning and cleaning game is of course one of the uses. A blade would have to be able to cut, probably not chop, plant material without snapping to bits. I remember now the (I had to look this up) Macuahuitl, the wooden sword with stone edges. Seems like innovation and adaptation is more important than the material itself.
 
MarkN86 said:
Seems like innovation and adaptation is more important than the material itself.
Click to expand...

It absolutely can be. I have cut some crazy stuff with just a quartz flake because the good rock is 30 miles to the NW of me and it's all I had.

Man created civilization when he figured out cutting tools, cordage and fire. With those three things he could build everything else. Having an understanding of how to make a sharp tool and abrade deepens your personal survival kit, which sounds like what you are interested in learning.
 
I live in Missouri and near rivers so good rock is in no short supply. To be honest, learning to build a fire with no lighter and learning to make basic cordage from plants are two things that interest me. I will learn more as I go on, I'm learning how to shape stone slowly but surely. I can make a little hand tool to cut but I can't quite get it to do exactly what I want. It will come with practice.
 
You might want to check out a site called primitive ways. It has a lot of articles on there about most anything paleolithic.
 
You can also visit some state archelogical parks like the Mounds, and talk one on one with knowledgable staff. I have done this and been taken into the back rooms to see the collections of artifacts in drawers and bins. Just letting them know your particular area of interest can spark conversations that can lead to a pretty good education on what and how things were done. Like any good teacher, these folks dream of finding a voracious student to teach what they themselves have learned with years of literal dirt time. Many also have education programs with demonstrations by flintknappers and other craftsmen. One thing I found which I did not expect... most of these ancient cultures were traders and utilized materials from far off places. Shells from the gulf are found far North and pipestone found near the Gulf. Likewise copper. Which, if you keep a pure copper penny with you, makes an excellent beaten blade with a very fine edge. It can also be hardened somewhat.
 
One of the things about stone knives here , wasnt so much the durability .. they were made to be as durable as possible , not left at a edge that is long and cleanso often as being made to have a secondary bevel almost , to keep te edge sharp but not so delicate it breaks away when it touches a bone .. the big thing about them was their disposability , when they got blunt it was often as easy to make another as to retouch the edge on the one they had .

Im speaking only of the tribesmen I knew tho who used them still . Even they had a old folder in their pocket . Their reasoning for using both technologies was simple , you cant always sharpen a steel knife easy , but you can flake a new edge on a stone one easy ... if you break a stone blade you make another if you bend or break your steel one you have to take it back to the blaksmith .
 
Northwest indian tribes, (and most all if I'm not mistaken) fought personal combat with a war club, or some variation. Knives were used for cutting, not so much for fighting, and tools requiring toughness and durability were made out of different material than obsidian or chert. hide scrapers and digging implements were wood or bone; cutting tools out of stones.
 
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