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Scalpel blades are usually made of hardened and tempered steel, stainless steel, or high carbon steel; in addition, titanium, ceramic, diamond and even obsidian knives are not uncommon. For example, when performing surgery under MRI guidance, steel blades are unusable (the blades would be drawn to the magnets and would also cause image artifacts ).
This extends the life of the diamond blade which is used only when its superior performance is critical. [citation needed] Obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass, is used to make extremely sharp surgical scalpels, significantly sharper than is possible with steel. The blades are brittle and very easily broken.
Obsidian scalpels may be purchased for surgical use on research animals. [65] The major disadvantage of obsidian blades is their brittleness compared to those made of metal, [66] thus limiting the surgical applications for obsidian blades to a variety of specialized uses where this is not a concern. [62]
A variety of blade materials can be used to make the blade of a knife or other simple edged hand tool or weapon, such as a sickle, hatchet, or sword. The most common blade materials are carbon steel, stainless steel, tool steel, and alloy steel. Less common materials in blades include cobalt and titanium alloys, ceramic, obsidian, and plastic.
Despite being sharper, prismatic obsidian is also considerably more brittle than steel; obsidian blades of the type used on the macuahuitl tended to shatter on impact with other obsidian blades, steel swords or plate armour. Obsidian blades also have difficulty penetrating European mail. The thin, replaceable blades used on the macuahuitl were ...
Well equipped makers usually use a large industrial belt grinder, or a belt grinder made specifically for knife making. The standard size for a knifemakers' belt grinder is a grinder that runs a belt size of 2" by 72". Pre-polish grinding on a heat treated blade can be done if the blade is kept cool, to preserve the temper of the steel.
Surgical knives made from obsidian are still used in some delicate surgeries, [33] as they cause less damage to tissues than surgical knives and the resulting wounds heal more quickly. In 1975, American archaeologist Don Crabtree manufactured obsidian scalpels which were used for surgery on his own body. [28]
The technology to make scalpel blades out of smoky obsidian, a volcanic glass that allows for the sharpest blade production, was first developed by Don Crabtree in the late 1970s. The blades, which have edges only a few molecules thick, are 100 to 500 times sharper than the traditional surgical steel scalpels. [7]
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