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Sharpened metal drop-point blade Naturally occurring sharp obsidian piece Shark tooth with a sharp, serrated edge A sewing needle comes to a sharp point. Sharpness refers to the ability of a blade, point, or cutting implement to cut through materials with minimal force, and can more specifically be defined as the capacity of a surface to initiate the cut. [1]
Diamond knife blade. A diamond knife is a very sharp knife in which the edge is made from diamond, invented by Humberto Fernández-Morán in 1955. [1] [2] Diamond knives are used for medical and scientific applications where an extremely sharp and long-lasting edge is essential. The knives are very expensive to purchase, depending on the ...
A modern recreation of a ceremonial Mesoamerican macuahuitl, edged with obsidian. Obsidian, used by Native Americans for knives, spearheads, and arrowheads. This natural glass chips sharper than other stones but is more brittle. Other hard stones such as flint, chert, radiolarite, chalcedony, basalt, and quartzite.
A common practice is to use a glass knife to cut the block which contains the sample to near the location of the specimen to be examined. Then the glass knife is replaced by a diamond blade for the actual ultrathin sectioning. This extends the life of the diamond blade which is used only when its superior performance is critical. [citation needed]
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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 ...
The natural volcanic glass obsidian can achieve a nearly molecular edge (high achievable sharpness) and only requires Stone Age technology to work, [2] but is so brittle that it cannot maintain that sharpness for very long. Additionally, The entire blade is highly susceptible to being accidentally broken.
Diamond stones can be useful in the sharpening process. Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance known and as such can be used to sharpen almost any material. [8] (Coarse diamond sharpening stones can be used for flattening waterstones. [8] [9]) Alternatively, tungsten carbide blades can be used in knife sharpening.