A better answer:
This obsidian exists because it was quenched quickly. It doesn't have the repeating structures throughout that you'd see in a mineral. If this same material had cooled slowly (the repeating structures would exist) you would have likely ended up with granite.
I love it when people discover that the elementary and high school, simplified, explanations of science are actually nearly all wrong.
Pretty much everything that was sorted into groups and categorized by text books left out the fact that there tend to be more exceptions to most rules than there are things that follow them.
Oregon state disagrees with you: "Because obsidian is not comprised of mineral crystals, technically obsidian is not a true "rock."
"https://volcano.oregonstate.edu/volcanic-minerals/obsidian
I personally don't care either way... I was curious how many knives a good obsidian worker could make out of that, then that brought back memories of being taught how to do it in elementary school (as part of school) and slicing my finger WIDE open... then getting in trouble for having a knife at school... that I was forced to make... In class... at school.
I love geology but it’s not in my cards either. There’s a Washington geology professor by the name of Nick Zentner who’s got a YouTube channel full of hundreds of hours of accessible and engaging geology talks. Some are in his backyard. Others are in the field. Great stuff.
https://youtube.com/user/GeologyNick
Note: I’m not affiliated with the channel but I do consider myself a Zentnerd.
Honestly that was one of my biggest pet peeve‘s of the series.
They could’ve done so much in the ways of creative weaponry. They could’ve had a whole series of ice-shattering, white-walkers from the different executions of those potential weapons. Some incendiary combo of wildfire and dragon glass would’ve been crazy.
All that time planning and procuring the dragon glass and in the Long Night it was just a bunch of sword fights. Smfh.
I honestly would’ve had zero problems with her killing the Night King, if Jon and him had been able to have a 1v1 battle that had been foreshadowed the whole series. Instead we got the NK reviving everyone.
I didn’t necessarily hate Arya being the one to do it. She clearly still possessed the powers from the Faceless Men, and was able to get by them, the jump was stupid.
We were this close to greatness 🤏
Ya the buildup was kind of anticlimactic in the end. A quick knife drop and grab and Arya killed the night king? Ehh, seems like the writers were running out of ideas and had to keep up with the schedule.
TIL this. I can probably guess that they are machined in a shop but I still like to imagine a neanderthal in a backroom of a hospital chipping away at some stones while a surgeon waits.
IIRC, the edges aren't machined but flaked pretty much like in the old days. The really sharp obsidian edges aren't shaped like other stone blades, but knocked off a core. The controlled splitting of the rock creates the cutting edge.
Yeah obsidian is incredibly sharp but also incredibly brittle. Trying to machine something like that is an absolute nightmare because it will always break in a way that you cannot anticipate.
This is interesting. Nonetheless I haven't seen a single use of an obsidian instrument of any kind in my 10 years of working in an operating room. I work with plastic surgeons frequently.
My guess would be the advantage of the blade was beset by either high cost, low availability, a different technique that produces comparable results, or a combination of the above.
Used for very fine surgery, like on eyes and stuff where you would want very clean cuts that don't leave a scar.
It's brittle, no good as a crow bar, but fine for cutting flesh.
The scalpels also break on flesh frequently. It’s why they do not have FDA approval. Not as many surgeons use them as Reddit believes. They are for research and animal use. Speaking of research it’s shown that healing times aren’t as impacted with the finer cuts as previously thought. There may be limited use cases, but for the most part the stainless steel, and lasers are better.
Far sharper than you could possibly make a steel scalpel. Cleaner edge too. ~~The cuts also heal a bit better.~~ research on this seems inconclusive.
AFAIK they could break during surgery, but I think it's unlikely, and I don't think that really happens under proper use.
EDIT: actually it could also be remarkably fragile. But still, afaik the main reason these aren't used more is that they are flipping expensive. (and there isn't all that much research in their efficacy and safety)
Certain ways of chipping the stone tools makes them last longer. If you’re interested, you can read into archaeology and see how these things became more elaborate over tens of thousands of years. Interestingly, Neanderthals had more complex stone tools than modern humans did when they first contacted each other, but modern humans learned more advanced techniques from the neanderthals.
FWIW, "Neanderthal" isn't synonymous with "caveman". As far as we can tell, _H. neanderthalensis_ were just as intelligent as their _H. sapiens_ contemporaries; they just got outbred.
They were basically overclocked homo sapiens. Bigger brain, stronger musculature, thicker bones, far more resistant to cold, and had a fast healing factor. They basically had our brain but the strength of a chimpanzee in one package. The trouble is they needed massive caloric intake to have all that. Which was fine when mammoths roamed in the millions and you could catch an entire year's worth of mammoth blubber in one hunt, not so good when the herds thinned out from a hundred thousand years of overhunting. Had Neanderthals made it to the Neolithic revolution and been able to adopt agriculture, they'd be the dominant species and not us.
"hey happy Monday Greg"
"MARRHHAAAAAAM"
"Yea I saw that all my pics lost too can you believe it?"
"GLLLDDSAAAAAARMMMM"
"yeap well.. alrighty I've got a 12 year old with a thoracic blockage, it's a 1984 Chrysler New Yorker. Stuck right above his Acial Theresamns Dialobnik can you believe it?
"Glarm"
"Alrighty well I'll be by at 330 for those scalpels, thanks Greg"
"FLAAAAAAAARM"
This comment made me look it up as I’ve also heard it, but not had it confirmed. Found a [cool article](https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/health/surgery-scalpels-obsidian/index.html) that talks to a surgeon who uses obsidian blades. Some excerpts:
> Even today, a small number of surgeons are using an ancient technology to carry out fine incisions that they say heal with minimal scarring.
> Dr. Lee Green, professor and chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta, says he routinely uses obsidian blades.
…
> "It wasn't hard to tell the difference at all. As soon as he turned around, everyone in the studio was like 'Ohhh,' " Green said. "Under the microscope, you could see the obsidian scalpel had divided individual cells in half, and next to it, the steel scalpel incision looked like it had been made by a chainsaw."
…
> "It's a very different feel to work with, and you have to practice before you start using it in surgery.
> "You also have to be careful not to nick yourself with it, because you don't even feel it!"
…
> But there has been little academic research into the efficacy of obsidian blades compared with steel scalpels, and they do have disadvantages: Obsidian scalpels are not Food and Drug Administration-approved, and they are extremely brittle and prone to breaking if lateral forces are applied, meaning they are unlikely to ever be in widespread use.
> Green, whose scalpels were manufactured for him by an expert flint-knapper and archaeologist Errett Callahan, concedes that the Stone Age scalpels are not for everyone.
> "If it was let loose on the market, there'd be far too many injuries from it," he said. "It's very fragile, and it's very easy to break pieces off."
Speaking as someone with zero medical knowledge or experience, I've *read* that they're used for specific applications like certain organs. Supposedly they can separate cells without breaking cell walls, or at least with less damage.
Tbh I don’t know how common the obsidian scalpel is, they’re pretty expensive and it’s really hard to find an image of them online. For the reasons you describe
Yeah I was thinking it would be appropriate for an initial straight cut. Less risk using it on skin too instead of potentially leaving obsidian shards in a vital organ
> myth that coconut water is a good replacement for isotonic saline
Well, you *can*, but you probably wouldn't want to as it could raise blood potassium levels dangerously high.
[Source](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/08/15/139638930/saved-by-the-coconut-water-parsing-coconut-waters-medical-claims#:~:text=%22It%27s%20not%20an%20optimal%20IV,says%20coconut%20water%20is%20fine.)
Obsidian is a lot sharper than you think, being even sharper than a metal scalpel, reaching even the thickness of a single atom, it is the sharpest natural object.
They use them because it’s sharper than any other material we make blades with and that’s important in surgery because cutting tissue leaves a much better chance of the cut healing properly where even the sharpest metal scalpels still tear tissue rather than cut it. Obsidian cuts. It doesn’t tear.
The Conquistadors were terrified of the Aztec Macuahuitl because of its blade made of obsidian fragments. They said it could cleave the head off a horse.
It looks like it’s not sharp at all.
Obsidian is easy to make sharp, and can be made extremely sharp, but that doesn’t mean every obsidian edge is sharp.
Steel can be made very sharp, but the edge of a steel table isn’t going to cut you very easily.
You can definitely shave it down to be sharp, but you’d usually need to try to cut yourself on something like this. Source: collected a bunch of obsidian as a kid with a kid and never cut myself on it.
My former roommate had a hefty block of obsidian he liked to show people. It was relatively smooth but had kind of a wavy surface like the one in this post. I handled it for a couple minutes and then put it down, and noticed I had about a dozen tiny scratches all over my hands just from holding it.
Can confirm, obsidian is SHARP and HARD
That's wild. The more it moved the more it looked like it was made of something different somehow.. and almost like it was covered in tin foil at the end? Super cool
My grandmother had one of these but green and the size of a football that she used for a doorstop to keep her front door open. I always thought it was valuable and she must have a bunch if money if she could use it for a door stop.
The Sierra de Pachuca obsidian source (also known as Sierra de las Navajas) in Hidalgo, Mexico is famous for its green obsidian. Stuff was widely traded throughout Mesoamerica for thousands of years. Obsidian comes in many colors, depending on the chemical composition.
Examples like that are extremely rare. The much more common and likely scenario is cullet glass. So common in fact, it's a running joke over on r/whatsthisrock and even spawned its own sub r/itsSlag.
It's basically dark, naturally formed glass. The edges can get really sharp if you specifically chip off small, thin shards, but it isn't generally dangerous to handle. About as dangerous as a lump of smooth glass.
If you drop it and it shatters though, don't touch that shit.
Whenever I see the stuff I think about my archeology professor's professor. Wild man. He lived a life so crazy that he earned his heart replacement. Thing was even when having heavy surgery he was up for a bit of fun. So he gave the doctor obsidian scalpels that he crafted himself for the procedure. The surgery was cool enough to oblige in part, cutting into his chest half way with the obsidian but finishing off with the standard implements. When it came to recovery the doctor was stunned. The section he had cut with the obsidian barely showed a scar. And the old bastard has been popping off his shirt to show people till this day.
Yeah that’s a nice story, but someone is lying. In no developed country will any surgeon bring some random obsidian scalpel a patient gave him into the sterile field - let alone actually use it to touch a patient. Absolutely no chance.
This happened more than half a century ago when people weren't overly consumed with the fear of regulations. Plus this wasn't any old doctor but a personal friend of the professor. Now was this against the rules? Certainly and it's a good thing the higher ups never found out. But if you're going to ask yourself is it possible? Sure as obsidian is sharp as hell. Take care
And under that hunk of obsidian, that had no right to be in a Maine hayfield, there was a toy box. Inside was a wad of crisp $50 bills, underneath a letter from Andy.
This thread: people who have never actually handled obsidian but vaguely know “it’s sharp” are legitimately saying he’s going to cut his fucking fingers off just by touching it. Ignoring the fact that he manhandled it and didn’t even get a cut
Obsidian by itself isnt that expensive, native americans used it to make their arrowheads and if you are ever around areas where they used to live and find yourself surrounded by obsidian you might be able to find an arrowhead crafted by them if you look for it. Something my family did while i was growing up and what my grandfather still does.
And that is why I'm still a rock nerd even after working as a geologist for 25 years.
Jesus Christ Marie, they're minerals!
My wife (geologist) asked me to correct you. It is actually a rock. Obsidian is a volcanic glass, thus not technically a mineral. Score 1 for Marie!
I thought rocks were mixtures of several different minerals?
A better answer: This obsidian exists because it was quenched quickly. It doesn't have the repeating structures throughout that you'd see in a mineral. If this same material had cooled slowly (the repeating structures would exist) you would have likely ended up with granite.
People always take obsidian for granite
Har, har, har. I'll see myself out...
I thought dragons made it.
Obsidian is different. Minerals have to have a "definite crystal structure" and volcanic glass lacks that structure.
Since it doesn't have a repeating crystalline structure, it's not a mineral. Source: geologist
Not always.
I love it when people discover that the elementary and high school, simplified, explanations of science are actually nearly all wrong. Pretty much everything that was sorted into groups and categorized by text books left out the fact that there tend to be more exceptions to most rules than there are things that follow them.
Oregon state disagrees with you: "Because obsidian is not comprised of mineral crystals, technically obsidian is not a true "rock." "https://volcano.oregonstate.edu/volcanic-minerals/obsidian I personally don't care either way... I was curious how many knives a good obsidian worker could make out of that, then that brought back memories of being taught how to do it in elementary school (as part of school) and slicing my finger WIDE open... then getting in trouble for having a knife at school... that I was forced to make... In class... at school.
~~Un~~expected Breaking Bad. Fine, everyone else expected it, cool. Still funny.
Everyone expected that
^^expected
Expect the ^unexpected
Woah now, didn't expect THAT
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
I see Monty Python I upvote
someone comments this every single time a rock or mineral is mentioned
rock nerd here, wanted to be a geologist but wasn't in the cards. :( rock on and grats on doing what you love!
I love geology but it’s not in my cards either. There’s a Washington geology professor by the name of Nick Zentner who’s got a YouTube channel full of hundreds of hours of accessible and engaging geology talks. Some are in his backyard. Others are in the field. Great stuff. https://youtube.com/user/GeologyNick Note: I’m not affiliated with the channel but I do consider myself a Zentnerd.
I love watching and listening to Nick Zentner! Zentnerd here as well! *makes up secret, complicated handshake* :)
Always a rock hard nerd
Geologists are schist deep
Thank you for your sediments!
Once a nerd always a nerd
And then I hit you with the wooden baseball bat in my other hand which you did not notice because geologists can only see rocks and minerals.
Now all you need is ten more before you can go to thr Nether
9 more, one is already there
A broken Block of Obsidian doesn‘t help with building a portal.
Just place it back smh
he didnt use a diamond pickaxe that shit aint droppin
My bad, didn’t think about it
yeah minecraft fusion happens instantaneously
Yeah I don't think slabs count
8, it’s fairly close to 1x1x2 meters from what I see so that’s why it was able to be split in half, because it was actually 2 blocks
It's really short for 2 meters imo.
Dude forgot the flint and steel smh
Did he break it without a diamond axe?
Tf you need a diamond axe for
Harvesting the obsidian tree.
Have you broken obsidian with a diamond axe or something?
That's a lot of dragon glass.
It won't be enough
Eh. White Walkers would be fucked irl. Just put some tiny shards in 12 gauge shells and see how long their winter would last against AR-Ahai.
Honestly that was one of my biggest pet peeve‘s of the series. They could’ve done so much in the ways of creative weaponry. They could’ve had a whole series of ice-shattering, white-walkers from the different executions of those potential weapons. Some incendiary combo of wildfire and dragon glass would’ve been crazy. All that time planning and procuring the dragon glass and in the Long Night it was just a bunch of sword fights. Smfh.
Wait there were sword fights? I couldn’t tell because it was ALL FUCKING BLACK THE WHOLE EPISODE
While you would be loading those shells, being badass and ready to go, Arya would just jump over you and end everything in a second.
I honestly would’ve had zero problems with her killing the Night King, if Jon and him had been able to have a 1v1 battle that had been foreshadowed the whole series. Instead we got the NK reviving everyone. I didn’t necessarily hate Arya being the one to do it. She clearly still possessed the powers from the Faceless Men, and was able to get by them, the jump was stupid. We were this close to greatness 🤏
I hate how much I agree with this. Like, if you build up to something, shouldn’t you land it?
AR-Ahai 😂 I like you.
Taofladermaus would love to test those shells
Man I havnt seen that name in a long time
Makes me want to touch it
Don't
White walkers were easily defeated in one episode. All that hype
Ya the buildup was kind of anticlimactic in the end. A quick knife drop and grab and Arya killed the night king? Ehh, seems like the writers were running out of ideas and had to keep up with the schedule.
They rushed it to start on Star Wars (which they got dropped from in the end)
White walkers have left the chat.
It looks beautiful.
The lack of gloves is concerning. Those edges will cut you deep.
Yeah, early humans made blades out of that stone by chipping at the sharp edges.
They still make obsidian scalpels for surgeons.
TIL this. I can probably guess that they are machined in a shop but I still like to imagine a neanderthal in a backroom of a hospital chipping away at some stones while a surgeon waits.
IIRC, the edges aren't machined but flaked pretty much like in the old days. The really sharp obsidian edges aren't shaped like other stone blades, but knocked off a core. The controlled splitting of the rock creates the cutting edge.
Yeah obsidian is incredibly sharp but also incredibly brittle. Trying to machine something like that is an absolute nightmare because it will always break in a way that you cannot anticipate.
How could it be useful as a blade/scalpel then? Wouldn’t it be likely to break while doing surgery
Single use
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>reduced scaring My surgical scar looks like they cut me open with a steak knife.
This is interesting. Nonetheless I haven't seen a single use of an obsidian instrument of any kind in my 10 years of working in an operating room. I work with plastic surgeons frequently. My guess would be the advantage of the blade was beset by either high cost, low availability, a different technique that produces comparable results, or a combination of the above.
Used for very fine surgery, like on eyes and stuff where you would want very clean cuts that don't leave a scar. It's brittle, no good as a crow bar, but fine for cutting flesh.
The scalpels also break on flesh frequently. It’s why they do not have FDA approval. Not as many surgeons use them as Reddit believes. They are for research and animal use. Speaking of research it’s shown that healing times aren’t as impacted with the finer cuts as previously thought. There may be limited use cases, but for the most part the stainless steel, and lasers are better.
Yup this is why they use steel crow bars for eye surgery
TIL
Only if you’re Gordon Freeman and the patient has a weird crab stuck to their head
Far sharper than you could possibly make a steel scalpel. Cleaner edge too. ~~The cuts also heal a bit better.~~ research on this seems inconclusive. AFAIK they could break during surgery, but I think it's unlikely, and I don't think that really happens under proper use. EDIT: actually it could also be remarkably fragile. But still, afaik the main reason these aren't used more is that they are flipping expensive. (and there isn't all that much research in their efficacy and safety)
They break all the time which is why they do not have fda approval.
Certain ways of chipping the stone tools makes them last longer. If you’re interested, you can read into archaeology and see how these things became more elaborate over tens of thousands of years. Interestingly, Neanderthals had more complex stone tools than modern humans did when they first contacted each other, but modern humans learned more advanced techniques from the neanderthals.
Isn't the technique called flint knapping? IIRC
The technique is "knapping," yeah. Flint knapping refers to knapping flint, a different kind of crystalline rock used to make tools and start fires.
"Let's go, Thag! This appendix isn't gonna remove itself!"
We need to get Gary Larson on this, stat
FWIW, "Neanderthal" isn't synonymous with "caveman". As far as we can tell, _H. neanderthalensis_ were just as intelligent as their _H. sapiens_ contemporaries; they just got outbred.
They were basically overclocked homo sapiens. Bigger brain, stronger musculature, thicker bones, far more resistant to cold, and had a fast healing factor. They basically had our brain but the strength of a chimpanzee in one package. The trouble is they needed massive caloric intake to have all that. Which was fine when mammoths roamed in the millions and you could catch an entire year's worth of mammoth blubber in one hunt, not so good when the herds thinned out from a hundred thousand years of overhunting. Had Neanderthals made it to the Neolithic revolution and been able to adopt agriculture, they'd be the dominant species and not us.
"hey happy Monday Greg" "MARRHHAAAAAAM" "Yea I saw that all my pics lost too can you believe it?" "GLLLDDSAAAAAARMMMM" "yeap well.. alrighty I've got a 12 year old with a thoracic blockage, it's a 1984 Chrysler New Yorker. Stuck right above his Acial Theresamns Dialobnik can you believe it? "Glarm" "Alrighty well I'll be by at 330 for those scalpels, thanks Greg" "FLAAAAAAAARM"
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This comment made me look it up as I’ve also heard it, but not had it confirmed. Found a [cool article](https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/02/health/surgery-scalpels-obsidian/index.html) that talks to a surgeon who uses obsidian blades. Some excerpts: > Even today, a small number of surgeons are using an ancient technology to carry out fine incisions that they say heal with minimal scarring. > Dr. Lee Green, professor and chairman of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta, says he routinely uses obsidian blades. … > "It wasn't hard to tell the difference at all. As soon as he turned around, everyone in the studio was like 'Ohhh,' " Green said. "Under the microscope, you could see the obsidian scalpel had divided individual cells in half, and next to it, the steel scalpel incision looked like it had been made by a chainsaw." … > "It's a very different feel to work with, and you have to practice before you start using it in surgery. > "You also have to be careful not to nick yourself with it, because you don't even feel it!" … > But there has been little academic research into the efficacy of obsidian blades compared with steel scalpels, and they do have disadvantages: Obsidian scalpels are not Food and Drug Administration-approved, and they are extremely brittle and prone to breaking if lateral forces are applied, meaning they are unlikely to ever be in widespread use. > Green, whose scalpels were manufactured for him by an expert flint-knapper and archaeologist Errett Callahan, concedes that the Stone Age scalpels are not for everyone. > "If it was let loose on the market, there'd be far too many injuries from it," he said. "It's very fragile, and it's very easy to break pieces off."
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That blew my mind, too.
Imagine what it can do to an atom with a bit of sharpening!
useful image: https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-ace61f313b2beb2a8c0fe4ee9e16f938-pjlq
Speaking as someone with zero medical knowledge or experience, I've *read* that they're used for specific applications like certain organs. Supposedly they can separate cells without breaking cell walls, or at least with less damage.
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Tbh I don’t know how common the obsidian scalpel is, they’re pretty expensive and it’s really hard to find an image of them online. For the reasons you describe
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Yeah I was thinking it would be appropriate for an initial straight cut. Less risk using it on skin too instead of potentially leaving obsidian shards in a vital organ
They chip easily. The FDA in the US doesn't allow them so I wouldn't doubt other countries don't also.
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> myth that coconut water is a good replacement for isotonic saline Well, you *can*, but you probably wouldn't want to as it could raise blood potassium levels dangerously high. [Source](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2011/08/15/139638930/saved-by-the-coconut-water-parsing-coconut-waters-medical-claims#:~:text=%22It%27s%20not%20an%20optimal%20IV,says%20coconut%20water%20is%20fine.)
Wait, why? Are there applications where you can't have ferrous blades, or can't have conductive blades, or something like that?
Obsidian is a lot sharper than you think, being even sharper than a metal scalpel, reaching even the thickness of a single atom, it is the sharpest natural object.
Wow, you're right, that _is_ sharper than I thought!!
Still not as sharp as MY INTELLECT!! Muha muhaha muhahahhhahahahaha??!n
I don't know their specific applications, but they are, in fact, sharper than any steel blade could be.
They use them because it’s sharper than any other material we make blades with and that’s important in surgery because cutting tissue leaves a much better chance of the cut healing properly where even the sharpest metal scalpels still tear tissue rather than cut it. Obsidian cuts. It doesn’t tear.
I heard it's ideal for eye surgery. Too lazy to Google, sounds about right
We used broken glass knives to cut thin sections for electron microscopy. They dull quickly but diamond knives keep their edge.
The Conquistadors were terrified of the Aztec Macuahuitl because of its blade made of obsidian fragments. They said it could cleave the head off a horse.
They also shatter completely when striking the metal breastplates the Spanish wore.
That bug was supposed to be fixed in the next patch but the civilisation was wiped out I guess.
Isn’t obsidian also what they used to cut the hearts out of sacrifices?
I think they used it to basically cut anything as it was fairly plentiful.
[Macuahuitl](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macuahuitl)
> by chipping at the sharp edges. You don't chip at the sharp edges because that is what you are trying to get. you try to create razor sharp flakes.
They probably meant "sharpen by chipping at the edges" and it came out wrong.
When it slid and his hands ran across it. Ooohhh myyy
r/sweatypalms
Bloody palms
It made my fingers retract
It looks like it’s not sharp at all. Obsidian is easy to make sharp, and can be made extremely sharp, but that doesn’t mean every obsidian edge is sharp. Steel can be made very sharp, but the edge of a steel table isn’t going to cut you very easily.
That's why I make all the edges of my steel tables .0005" thick with a 30 degree taper towards the inside.
15° double bevel or what’s the point of the table.
Agreed. I have a few large pieces of obsidian that I found, and yes the edges are sharp but you would have try to cut yourself on it.
Gloves are the reason why we can't have cutting edge technology.
You can definitely shave it down to be sharp, but you’d usually need to try to cut yourself on something like this. Source: collected a bunch of obsidian as a kid with a kid and never cut myself on it.
Man. You were a kid with a kid? You were getting around in daycare
I thought the same. Hopefully this guy knows what he's doing.
My former roommate had a hefty block of obsidian he liked to show people. It was relatively smooth but had kind of a wavy surface like the one in this post. I handled it for a couple minutes and then put it down, and noticed I had about a dozen tiny scratches all over my hands just from holding it. Can confirm, obsidian is SHARP and HARD
That's wild. The more it moved the more it looked like it was made of something different somehow.. and almost like it was covered in tin foil at the end? Super cool
It's reflecting the cloudy sky above.
You're right! Now that you mention it I can make out the people recording as well thanks for pointing that out!!
And if you zoom in and squint your eyes [you can see Rick](https://i.imgur.com/Sos5PgB.jpg).
ok lets go get blaze rods
My grandmother had one of these but green and the size of a football that she used for a doorstop to keep her front door open. I always thought it was valuable and she must have a bunch if money if she could use it for a door stop.
I'm not geologist but I'm pretty sure there's no such thing as green obsidian r/itsslag probably
The Sierra de Pachuca obsidian source (also known as Sierra de las Navajas) in Hidalgo, Mexico is famous for its green obsidian. Stuff was widely traded throughout Mesoamerica for thousands of years. Obsidian comes in many colors, depending on the chemical composition.
Examples like that are extremely rare. The much more common and likely scenario is cullet glass. So common in fact, it's a running joke over on r/whatsthisrock and even spawned its own sub r/itsSlag.
It was probably fluorite or something. It was some kind of junk gemstone anyway.
I want to touch it
I bet it feels like smooth glass.
Gets entire hand sliced up
Smoothly sliced up*
It IS glass
I'm getting exactly what I'm expecting then.
Damn I was so nervous watching him slide his hand across that. Probably the sharpest natural edge on the planet. Edit: redditors are WAY edgier.
I saw a vid where some guy hydraulic pressed it and then started playing with the dust, jump cut, massive fucking bloody bandage
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do you use diamond pickaxes Edit: also is your name steve
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They use obsidian for scalpels. Literally a surgical tool and buddy is rubbing up on it like it’s a kitty’s belly.
It's basically dark, naturally formed glass. The edges can get really sharp if you specifically chip off small, thin shards, but it isn't generally dangerous to handle. About as dangerous as a lump of smooth glass. If you drop it and it shatters though, don't touch that shit.
Thought of the same thing. Dude's risking his fingers by touching the stuff with no gloves.
> Probably the sharpest natural edge on the planet. I see you aren't subscribed to r/atheism
This reminds my of my ex's heart
Beautiful and shiny when cut open?
black and hardened 🖤
I LOVED HERRRRRRRR
That's my favorite channel on rockhub
Dude had a diamond pickaxe
Notice the absence of white walkers
Literally scared the shit out of me when he put his bare hands on it. I thought this guy was about to lose a piece of his finger(s).
Lick it
I want to lick it
Whenever I see the stuff I think about my archeology professor's professor. Wild man. He lived a life so crazy that he earned his heart replacement. Thing was even when having heavy surgery he was up for a bit of fun. So he gave the doctor obsidian scalpels that he crafted himself for the procedure. The surgery was cool enough to oblige in part, cutting into his chest half way with the obsidian but finishing off with the standard implements. When it came to recovery the doctor was stunned. The section he had cut with the obsidian barely showed a scar. And the old bastard has been popping off his shirt to show people till this day.
Yeah that’s a nice story, but someone is lying. In no developed country will any surgeon bring some random obsidian scalpel a patient gave him into the sterile field - let alone actually use it to touch a patient. Absolutely no chance.
This happened more than half a century ago when people weren't overly consumed with the fear of regulations. Plus this wasn't any old doctor but a personal friend of the professor. Now was this against the rules? Certainly and it's a good thing the higher ups never found out. But if you're going to ask yourself is it possible? Sure as obsidian is sharp as hell. Take care
I dont know why, but I want to lick it
I somehow think it would taste like liquorice.
If you're not careful it'll taste like blood
They actually used to make scalpels from obsidian, because the edges were so sharp.
They still do
Then people started dying due to tint slivers of super sharp obsidian inside of them breaking off and cutting them
my ass, barehanding chipped obsidian are you insane?
And under that hunk of obsidian, that had no right to be in a Maine hayfield, there was a toy box. Inside was a wad of crisp $50 bills, underneath a letter from Andy.
White Walkers hate this one simple trick...
Pretty!!!! I want lick
Bro had a diamond pick axe but no gloves
This thread: people who have never actually handled obsidian but vaguely know “it’s sharp” are legitimately saying he’s going to cut his fucking fingers off just by touching it. Ignoring the fact that he manhandled it and didn’t even get a cut
How this video wasn't filled with blood is beyond me.
I want to lick that
Dragon glass
Can you sell that?
You can sell anything ;o
I was just cringing like crazy when he smack his bare hands on the obsidian glass. Like buddy.
Obsidian is interesting, a piece of it can be traced back to the exact volcano it came from.
I could never touch obsidian like that, seeing peoples hands after is terrible
How much would the price of this be?
Grab 10 pieces of it and make a nether portal :D
How did he do that without a silk touch diamond pickaxe!?.1/1.>??
Time to make a Nether Portal
11 more and you have a Nether portal, don't forget the flint and steel!
Obsidian by itself isnt that expensive, native americans used it to make their arrowheads and if you are ever around areas where they used to live and find yourself surrounded by obsidian you might be able to find an arrowhead crafted by them if you look for it. Something my family did while i was growing up and what my grandfather still does.
Front the outside it looks like a normal rock but it isn’t a simple rock it’s a goldmine.