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Some of you sissies are still shaving with sharpened shovels. But Mike Cook does it old school--as in using Stone Age technology. Watch him knap a slice of obsidian off a block and then shave his face with it.
Cook refers to obsidian as "the sharpest substance known to science." I don't know if that's true, but at the link, you can see electron micrographs of a surgical scalpel and an obsidian blade. The obsidian appears to have a sharper edge.
Link
Stone agers had Gilette shaving cream? I dung thang sew.
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Unfortunately, sharpness isn't the only thing you care about when you look at material qualities. Harder substances can have sharper edges, but that also means they are more brittle. Metal supplanted hard stone long ago because it made more durable tools. Composite materials offer more interesting alternatives in the modern day as we learn how to layer different materials together to combine properties in ways not previously possible before we gained the ability to control composition on the molecular level.
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No John, straight razors are terrifying.
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I'm not sure about this shaving technique, but I'd like to try a straight razor shave someday. There are a couple barbers in my local shop who offer the service.
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I may be 31, but I'm open to this guy adopting me!
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Well, obsidian is like the hardest material in minecraft... not too hard to imagine a real life blade :P
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Yeah, it is true - the sharpest thing we have discovered is actually ancient tech - until we discover how to make a nanotube blade, I think we have the best we can use in obsidian. Sort of cool. Copper is also making a comeback in the operation theater as it has natural antimicrobial properties...
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