Ivory & Obsidian

Here's something different. Huge obsidian blade married to an elephant ivory tip. Sheath is elephant.

Warren,

You're a wealth of information (and a pretty good knife designer); I had never seen Obsidion used for a knife. Great use with the Tip and the Elephant sheath!

Tom Flynn

That's phenomenal Warren! Excellent work by the knapper and I bet that blade is razor sharp. I believe I read a while back that obsidian was used for scalpel blades until fairly recently because they could put a sharper edge on it than steel. Possibly a factoid.

Fantastic blade and done by a master knapper so to see. The handle material goes very well with it.

Warren, very nice knife and sheath!

I'm guessing that this is, probably by far, the sharpest knife in your collection. I read somewhere that obsidian can be much sharper than surgical steel, as well crafted obsidian blades have a straight and smooth cutting edge which can be as fine as 3 nanometers thick. Don't want to cut yourself shaving with that one!

Jim, I believe that you are correct that there have been obsidian surgical scalpels made and used (possible use only by veterinarians; may not be approved for use on humans at least in USA?).

As an added benefit, now you're ready to take on the White Walkers from Game of Thrones. For those non-watchers, an obsidian (called "dragonglass" on the show) blade looks to be the only weapon which can kill these deadly magical ice creatures.

Excellent knife, suitable and for Cosplay, and for actual use

Warren, You can kill White Walkers with that knife. I admit it....I am a Game of Thrones fan. Eric

Guy’s thanks for the comments. Yes this is not only sharp it's like a serated edge. Cool part is its sort of translucent. Look up obsidian knife on ebay there's lots of them.

Nice napping work! We grew up with wide availability of obsidian objects, blades and arrowheads, and played with knapping ourselves, both with pressure and with cold water drops on heated obsidian......as with broken glass, nothing sharper or harder out there, and cuts forever without dulling.

An elegant object you have there....the strange juxtaposition of modern/primitive....and simply beautiful.

That's a beauty, no doubt! I can't quote a source, but my foggy memory tells me obsidian blades have been around longer than steel, iron, or even bronze.

tis stone age stone cold gorgeous stone blade.

Thanks again guys.

2,000 year old, pre-Aztec obsidian knives from Mexico supposedly used for human sacrifices pictured below. Also commonly used for blades, points, etc. by native Americans in the Western and Northwestern US.

Nice blades Jim, yours?

No, I wish they were. I have a few chert points and blades from this area but there's no obsidian in Florida. The picture is from an article discussing the use of the blades for sacrifices. Coincidentally though, my daughter returned a few days ago from a trip to Washington State and brought me a small obsidian knapped knife with a mountain goat horn tip for a handle that she bought somewhere up there. Not nearly as large or nice as your knife but still pretty cool.

Post it. There's tons of these out there and they are cool.

Jim, you must have missed the rule re: " always must post any knife (or firearm, fishing rod, etc., or other similar item as appropriate) whenever given to you by spouse, son, and especially daughter AND grandchildren, as these items always trump all posted previously and after."

I'll give it a shot guys but everyone here knows all too well how poor my photo skills are.

This was a gift from an old army buddy, I think he got it in Mexico.

Sorry Wally.....missed the "old Army Buddy" part of the rule; 1 of the most important parts.
Great post!

This one is cool and was gifted by a family member who is friendly with an Indian culture artist.

That's cool. I don't see any sinew so I wonder what was used to hold it all together?

LOL, most likely epoxy.

That is COOOOOL!!!

Super looking and would be a definite user today or 1,000 years ago.

Pap

Pap, you got that right!!!

Thanks for the replies guys but it not Obsidian or Ivory. It is Stag,Turquoise inlays, Agate blade.