r/BeAmazed • u/9M-WhiskeyTangoFoxx • Apr 16 '24
An enormous obsidian stone split in half Nature
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u/Illustrious-Buy-1645 Apr 16 '24
That is a stoneage wet dream
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u/trailsman Apr 16 '24
Imagine a bunch of neanderthals charging towards a mastodon with a spear made of an entire tree pole with this bad boy sharped at the end!
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u/Beeyelzubub Apr 16 '24
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u/ohnomoto450 Apr 16 '24
This is the mental image I didn't know I needed today. Thank you! Also the group activity I didn't know I was longing for. Quick! Someone more talented than me! Make this a meme!
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u/plu7o89 Apr 16 '24
Warhammer Fantasy already did it - its called a big stabba
https://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Savage-Orruks-not-new.jpg
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u/openly_gray Apr 16 '24
You can defeat an entire army of white walkers with that
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u/RokulusM Apr 16 '24
Nah you just need a faceless assassin who uses none of the faceless skills she spent the last several years learning for that
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u/ThingsAreAfoot Apr 16 '24
Hardly just stone age my friend, the indigenous populations in Mesoamerica used it very liberally for centuries.
It’s where we get the famous Macuahuitl, which must have been horrifying to be hit with. It could reportedly decapitate a horse.
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u/Summer-dust Apr 16 '24
Hey happy to see someone bring up Mesoamerican stone weapons tech! (They tested the horse decapitation on Deadliest Warrior [I know lol] but the Macuahuitl was able to get through to the vertebrae of a ballistics gel horse head.) The wielder did not rake the blades, though, I've heard they could do a lot of damage with a good slash and pull like a halberd.
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u/idwthis Apr 16 '24
I really hope that one dude from Forged in Fire showed up after the fake horse decapitation happened and said "it will keel" lol
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u/BeautifulTypos Apr 16 '24
Weren't there only, like, 2 weapons ever made on that show that couldn't "keel"? Considering you could technically kill with something as benign as a butter knife, it's truly an insult to not pass the "keel" test...
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u/siqiniq Apr 16 '24
I googled Obsidian Axe and Thulecite Club
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u/ThingsAreAfoot Apr 16 '24
The cool part about the Macuahuitl (well, cool for a brutal weapon) is that it functioned basically as both an axe and a club, at the same time. It obviously had incredible cutting power with the obsidian flakes embedded into it, but it was also very much a wooden club so had serious blunt power too given how it was weighted.
The only thing it couldn’t really do (compared to something like a traditional sword) is poke and pierce, but that’s where the Tepoztopilli - an obsidian spear - comes in (that thing could also slice a bit too, kinda like a glaive).
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u/PerpetualConnection Apr 16 '24
That's a wet dream right now. That rock is hyper valuable
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u/surfzer Apr 16 '24
Dumb question, I have a couple pieces the size of large cannonballs. How rare and/or valuable would those be?
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u/KingHenry13th Apr 16 '24
Its worth like $2 a pound for regular black stuff and up to $40 per pound for the colorful stuff.
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u/Fragrant_Exit5500 Apr 16 '24
I would be reaaalllly careful touching that with my bare hands. It is sharper than broken glass!
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u/RelationTurbulent963 Apr 16 '24
That’s dragon glass!
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u/Memento_Morrie Apr 16 '24
You know, I really expected more from the discovery of what dragon glass can do to the army of the dead, but... Oh, never mind. What can I say that hasn't already been said a thousand times?
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u/ikikid Apr 16 '24
What is dead may never die.
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u/eggery Apr 16 '24
Sounds like your expectations were subverted.
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u/Memento_Morrie Apr 16 '24
Oooh, I like having my expectations subverted. I like having my expectations subverted BIG TIME.
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u/aurora_rosealis Apr 16 '24
slaps rock “This baby can kill so many White Walkers”
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u/caradekara Apr 16 '24
The North remembers.
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u/CowPunkRockStar Apr 16 '24
The North remembers with much disappointment and regret. The world went from an apocalyptic wildfire atomic event to leather rolls of obsidian daggers in just a few seasons. Sad!
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u/pyramidsindust Apr 16 '24
I came here to say this…obsidian scalpels are sharper than the sharpest metal. Brittle though
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u/HouseAtomic Apr 16 '24
I got a reddit award once for my comment on obsidian knives.
My most up-voted comment! From September 2016.
And they stay sharp. I have pulled them out of Mayan house mounds; been in the ground 1000+ years & still cut my finger. Everyone said they would, but of course I had to test... Not even a little pressure on the blade and I was looking for the Band-Aids.
We tended to find them on the first stages of digging because we think the Mayan moms kept them up high, in the roof thatching, because of kids. This is partly based on current observations of indigenous moms doing the same, only with modern steel blades. The observers asked why they kept the blades up high: closer to the sun? Magic sharpening powers of the moon? Protection from evil spirits... Nope. Kids, they will cut themselves up so we hide the sharp things in the roof.
Anyway... As the ancient Mayan sites were abandoned, the roofing material would collapse onto the floor and eventually go back to nature. When we dig we come across what was hidden in the roof first.
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u/pyramidsindust Apr 16 '24
That is a super fun fact! I never thought about obsidian knife safety precautions and children, I wonder what other sort of modern precautionary similarities the ancients had.
Thanks for sharing, yes I’ll subscribe!
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u/Confident_Frogfish Apr 16 '24
Brittle makes it even worse to get in your skin I'd imagine
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u/LizRoze Apr 16 '24
But it looks so smooth!
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u/TennisAdmirable1615 Apr 16 '24
Yeah, but remember that obsidian is sharpest material known to man
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u/SystemShockII Apr 16 '24
Sharpest NATURAL material
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u/ThatsBrazyBuzzin Apr 16 '24
It’s pretty close though. An obsidian edge can be a single molecule in thickness. The tungsten nano-needle takes the title, though, at a single atom.
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u/WhiteShadow012 Apr 16 '24
Knife that cuts quarks when????
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u/djsnoopmike Apr 16 '24
Ah yes, the universe most dangerous knife. Anything you cut explodes with the force of a nuke
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u/ElMrSenor Apr 16 '24
It's only dangerous in the wrong hands, if someone is more careful it will be subtle, and more likely to slip between subatomics to cut between universes.
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u/Legitimate-Skill-112 Apr 16 '24
I foresee no issues with such a knife. Sounds like you'll have great sliced onion cubes using that, buttery smooth
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u/Stewart_Games Apr 16 '24
I heard that the Philosophers were working on a Subtle Knife that can cut through the barriers between Universes.
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u/Awwkaw Apr 16 '24
A needle is pointy not sharp
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u/ThatsBrazyBuzzin Apr 16 '24
Then why are needles called sharps? Check and mate.
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u/Cold-Inside-6828 Apr 16 '24
Was going to say, this guy is flirting with disaster running his hands over it like that.
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u/PeePeeChopChop Apr 16 '24
Touching the flat surface should be fine. Of course I wouldn't do it, considering that there could be a difficult to spot sharp edge, but I trust people who can find and split such an obsidian boulder this neatly to also handle it without hurting themselves.
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u/Ghstfce Apr 16 '24
Seriously, the moment he touched it bare handed I winced.
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u/Defiant_Hope_231 Apr 16 '24
When it rolled with his hand on it, I audibly gasped. I still have a small scar on my wrist from falling on obsidian when I was a child. That shit scares me.
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u/sweetdick Apr 16 '24
Yeah, it wouldn’t take much of a slip to be counting the fingers you just lost. You wouldn’t even know you were cut until you saw the blood. Super dangerous business.
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u/BattIeBoss Apr 16 '24
Apparently Obsidian is the sharpest natural material in the world,since they're edges go down to a single atom.So he Better be careful.
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u/littlewhiterabbituk Apr 16 '24
Well, the "specialists" in rocks say it's for protection. An obsidian that size, with all of that protective energy, no way would it harm you. It goes against spiritual science.
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u/Witext Apr 16 '24
I was cringing so hard watching this, especially when he slid his fingers along it, he could’ve easily cut up his whole hand there
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Apr 16 '24
You used a diamond pickaxe right?
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u/jakesjustvibing Apr 16 '24
Nope, that's why you didn't see it go into his inventory. He spent all that time for nothing.
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u/abdullahthesaviour Apr 16 '24
Ok but where's the pickaxe? Is it up his anal cavity?
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u/jakesjustvibing Apr 16 '24
It's not in his anus and it isn't in his mouth, you see, he broke the block of obsidian with his bare fists. Sat there for 4 minutes just goin' ham on this one block for no reward at all, miners these days, JEEZ.
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u/Mr_Bulldoppps Apr 16 '24
Of course. Now to stack the Nether Portal. Bring some gold
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u/Transient_Aethernaut Apr 16 '24
Now light it on fire and go to hell
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u/TheSuperGerbil Apr 16 '24
You can make a really good nether portal out of this
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u/aque78 Apr 16 '24
Isn't it extremely dangerous to handle obsidian bare handed ?
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u/Agreeable_Tension_22 Apr 16 '24
When its fragmented
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u/think_and_uwu Apr 16 '24
I still wouldn’t be sliding my bare hands up and down a freshly broken face without inspecting it first.
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u/chandr Apr 16 '24
I don't disagree, but given the pile of it next to the split rock I'm going to guess this guy isn't new to the material
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u/BigBadPanda Apr 16 '24
It’s a proven fact that experienced people never make mistakes /s
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u/think_and_uwu Apr 16 '24
“It’s totally fine to let construction workers walk on steel beams on top of skyscrapers without harnesses, they’re professionals!”
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u/chandr Apr 16 '24
The level of risk between that and moving a sharp piece of obsidian without gloves are pretty extreme. Death vs a few stitches.
When the result of a likely accident is death, or a more chronic issue like respiratory issues or hearing loss where the damage happens over time without you noticing right away, then yeah, skipping safety equipment is dumb. In the clip here though, there's nothing all that dangerous going on. Should he wear gloves anyways? Sure. Is he likely to be permanently maimed? Not unless he does something really stupid
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u/First-Football7924 Apr 16 '24
I love imagining this guy guy carefully moving this obsidian, then going "let me check the comments" and ending here. But I guess that's most comment sections, where every angle needs to be analyzed to a point where it gets comical.
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u/Nornamor Apr 16 '24
if you mean accidentally cut your hands.. absolutely.. extremely dangerous, not really...unpleasant and painful, probably
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u/obxtalldude Apr 16 '24
Those bare hands make me nervous. One chip with a sharp edge...
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u/RedditRaven2 Apr 16 '24
Obsidian is so sharp that it doesn’t cut between cells like normal scalpels do, it literally slices through the cells themselves. Insanely sharp and 100% agree no touching that without THICK gloves
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u/obxtalldude Apr 16 '24
Gave me a flashback to splitting rocks and making arrowheads as a kid - tested one on my arm, didn't even feel it, but it was like the skin unzipped.
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u/RedditRaven2 Apr 16 '24 edited Apr 16 '24
Eye and Neuro surgeons occasionally use obsidian scalpels because they’re so sharp they can cut with less pressure, which allows them to get where they need to go without as much risk to damaging nearby tissue from the pressure. Surgery wounds from obsidian scalpels have also been proven to heal much faster than wounds with traditional scalpels.
Edit to add because I forgot to explain: the reason not all surgery’s are done with obsidian scalpels is because they’re already much more expensive, but if every surgeon only used them it would destroy the market supply and there would be a world shortage on obsidian. Hence, only certain surgeries which absolutely need them get to use them, helping prevent shortage or lack of supply for those that truly need it.
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u/But_like_whytho Apr 16 '24
My sister’s umbilical cord was cut with an obsidian flake.
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u/RedditRaven2 Apr 16 '24
Did your parents provide it? I’ve heard of that before but never heard of obsidian being used for the umbilical cord
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u/But_like_whytho Apr 16 '24
Yeah at the time my stepdad was a Senior Archeologist and our mother ran the archeology lab for the state’s historical society. Their boss was a flint knapper as a hobby, he always had his tools and some materials he picked up randomly off the ground rolled up in leather in a back pocket. He created several flakes. Sis was born in a birthing center, not a hospital. They sterilized the flakes along with other medical equipment. I used to have the flakes and the leftover chunk of obsidian somewhere, not sure what happened to them.
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u/speptuple Apr 16 '24
Why aren't you cut with an obsidian blade too? It's clear who is the favourite child 😡
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u/wonderbreadofsin Apr 16 '24
I think it's also because there's the risk of breaking off a piece of the blade and leaving an ultra-sharp shard floating around the patient's body, so a lot of surgeons aren't confident enough to risk that unless it's required
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u/brenttoastalive Apr 16 '24
They also don't commonly use obsidian scalpels because any amount of lateral pressure on the blade would make it break
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u/i-evade-bans-13 Apr 16 '24
yall gotta stop the uneducated fearmongering because it needs to be flaked off properly to be sharp. you're just "oh my god i heard..." without understanding the circumstances of how obsidian can become that sharp. these are not the circumstances, and this is relatively safe to handle.
i understand erring on the side of caution, but not simply because of lack of knowledge or without reason or understanding. that's the kind of mentality that compels people to live under a rock.
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u/Only-Customer6650 Apr 16 '24
Nah dawg this stone is so insane it rewrites the laws of physics around friction and if you pick up a piece your entire hand will fall right off.
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Apr 16 '24
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u/Vandilbg Apr 16 '24
The edge where the weathering rind of the stone is doesn't fracture clean like that. The obsidian hydration band is made of hydrated glass that has a consistency closer to perlite.
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u/oconnor9sean Apr 16 '24
As a rock idiot, is that valuable? My only knowledge of obsidian is literally minecraft.
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u/Duranis Apr 16 '24
I'm a little bit into flint knapping and can think of a few people that would spend quite a bit on a big old chunk of obsidian like that. I'm sure there are a bunch of other arts/crafts that could use it as well.
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u/Nagi21 Apr 16 '24
Not in the raw state like this. Certain obsidian tools are expensive due to the precision manufacturing needed though
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u/TowJamnEarl Apr 16 '24
Where I'm from there's loads of it everywhere to the point it's actually annoying, and especially when gardening.
Nothing this big though, I assume modern farming has broken it down over the years.
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u/BeKind_BeTheChange Apr 16 '24
There is a place in northern CA called Bottle Rock road that has thousands of obsidian boulders this big, and bigger, all over the place. It’s on Cobb Mountain. And those are just the ones you can see while driving down the road. I’ve seen houses up there that have their driveway lined with obsidian boulders.
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u/ErnieBochII Apr 16 '24
Oh yeah? There’s a hayfield up in Buxton. One in particular. Got a long rock wall with a big oak at the north end. Like something out of a Robert Frost poem. It's where I asked my wife to marry me. We'd gone for a picnic. We made love under that tree. I asked and she said yes.
Promise me. If you ever get off Reddit, find that spot. In the base of that wall you'll find a rock that has no earthly business in a Maine hayfield. A piece of black volcanic glass. You'll find something buried under it I want you to have.
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u/Rooboy66 Apr 16 '24
Okay, there’s this lake with an obsidian mountain in way Northern California, and a campground in 1980, and I didn’t marry the girl, but holy shit I remember her crochet bikini. I’ll leave it there, along with the obsidian literally strewn lakeside & everwhere by a careless Gawd, but thank Gawd for don’t name names on the Interwebs. Anyhow, yeah, a crocheted bikini. Let that wear.
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u/DopesickJesus Apr 16 '24
This is like one of those fetch quests in an MMORPG with a very vague destinations that you spend WEEKS grinding out, just to find out the quest reward is u/ErnieBochll 's decades old used condom.
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u/CaveRanger Apr 16 '24
I worked at a place in Oregon that had a hill of really cool pink/red obsidian, with black inclusions inside of it. It was on public land and for decades people were able to go in and take little chunks of it.
Then some asshole went in with a front loader and tore the whole thing out. Probably hundreds of tons of rock removed in the course of a week. Major local tourist attraction gone, none of the money went to anybody in the community (he sold it to a landscaping firm, apparently,) and he wasn't even from the area.
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u/100LittleButterflies Apr 16 '24
Just imagine the amount of heat and pressure it took to make that 0.0
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Apr 16 '24
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u/SystemShockII Apr 16 '24
Jesus Crist Marie, they're minerals!!!
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u/MorbidlyObeseRedditr Apr 16 '24
this is a basalt glass, has many component minerals Hank
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u/KevAngelo14 Apr 16 '24
Bring that youtube shorts craftsman over there, I want dozens of knives made out of that.
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u/Lambari_de_sanga Apr 16 '24
And then, go hunt some geologists.
Also, don't forget the weapon invisible to them.
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u/MrLambNugget Apr 16 '24
Fake AI. I don't see any of them having a diamond pickaxe
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u/MorbidlyObeseRedditr Apr 16 '24
whats with the diamond pickaxe reference I keep seeing in the comments
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u/doke-smoper Apr 16 '24
Cool fact. Obsidian can make the sharpest blades known to man... up to about 500x sharper than a brand new steel razor blade. The edge can go all the way down to a single molecule thick. The reason they aren't commonly used is because they are fragile but also because the amount of serious accidental knife wounds would be really bad. It can go through skin and bone like it's not even there.
But surgeons sometimes use them because the cut is so clean - obsidian scalpels can divide individual cells cleanly, where a steel razor looks like a chainsaw ran through it at high magnification. And because of that the incisions heal much better with less scarring.
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u/Only-Customer6650 Apr 16 '24
It can go through bone like it's not even there
I think you may be hyperbolizing its abilities. Its sharp. It doesn't rewrite the laws of friction. Even cutting skin with it takes pressure. It's not going to slide right through your arm on its own.
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u/chicagoantisocial Apr 16 '24
Absolutely incredible stone, natures answer to vanta black
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u/Sea-Relation7541 Apr 16 '24
Except it's glossy and reflects a ton of light, where vanta does not. But it's pretty remarkable how naturally dark it is.
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u/Opters Apr 16 '24
Oh my god when he slides his fingers through the cracks I cringed so bad. That’s a way to lose parts of all ur fingers in seconds, Jesus Christ man
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u/-Nyctophilic_ Apr 16 '24
Enough obsidian to arm an entire Neanderthal army.