Looks a lot like a chunk of bumpy glass in the rough shape of a knife blade or spear head about 9 inches long… I think I can grind it and polish it to a razor’s edge on one side. You’ll see it in the video! I don’t really care about a broker tho, I trust you. I mean what have I got to lose, if you renege I’ll prolly just shape it a little more and put a handle on it… and will have had myself a nice haircut…
If you are offering that much trust,
I’ll put half up front.
Do you have PayPal?
I think there are direct messages options in here.
Cool, let me find that stone first to make sure it didn’t wander off with one of the kids…
Yeah, I have paypal…
Excellent.
You let me know when you’re ready and we’ll get this rolling.
Should we post the video here as proof of concept? If you don’t want videos of yourself online, that’s entirely reasonable as well.
This may be my favourite time when I’m likely to be proven wrong …
Of course, keep it all in the thread would be optimal. Looking just now I didn’t see the chunk I had in mind but I found a few obsidian arrow heads in another box. If I can’t locate the big one these will do…
As far as you being proven wrong, that will all come down to what sort of edge I can put on it…
Pressure flaking isn’t exactly the easiest of tasks.
Respect where it’s due.
Either way, it’s at your liesure.
Let me know when I can send the front Franklin.
Also, this doesn’t mean I don’t still want beards for thralls.
Nah, no flaking… I don’t usually bluff - especially when it’s this absurd. This is totally up my alley!
But if I do flake I’ll let you know here and that will only be because I couldn’t get a good edge on one - if/when I can, that’s when I’ll let you send to the paypal - because that’s when I’ll know it’s actually doable or not. It totally should be though… it’s glass after all.
Ofc!
I didn’t mean flaking like flaking out. Perish the thought.
I meant pressure flaking like knapping or otherwise edging Flint or other sharp rocks. I’ve worked Flint before, but have only used Obsidian, never shaped it.
I have nothing but faith in your valour and conviction.
Ah, I’ve heard the word “knapping” before - basically chipping stones to form a shape.
I intend to use high-speed tools and various grits of polishing compound in coolant to get the rough straight - repurposed from my telescope making projects. And then hand polishing for the razor edge - I have stones and papers up to 15,000 grit. Shaving razors only need something like 3k ~ 5k with good technique.
This is typically achieved by flaking (new word for me) but I think it’s going to produce gouging serrations (“neat conchoidal shapes”) that would not be great for shaving.
Damn. If I had of known bets were involved, I would have held off shaving my head.
Apologies, this was sorta spur of the moment.
This image gives me hope for grinding and polishing the material.
That’s interesting @Lucidique, I just learned that “barbarian” means “unbarbered” - ie. unshaven… Kewl!
That was surprisingly accurate.
The etymology is a bit off.
In older Hellenic (Greek) the word for beard was Pogon. Which is also a false cognate for Pagan.
It left out the specific grooming habits and history farther east from India, but given we don’t actually see NPCs from Khitai or Yamatai, those habits would be irrelevant in context of the game anyway.
Good find, gratitude.
No wonder all those Cimmerians around the Mounds and all those Nordheimers in New Asagarth are so angry and hostile all the time…
I like this thread, though, it’s my kind of silly.
Tough scalps
Its not shaving; its genetics. The bracelets burn off all facial hair but leave your privates wild and wooly. The bald guys dont shave; they just suffer from that malady that cant be hidden by baseball caps yet… shhhh… they are self conscious about it.
If it were just localized to the river, I would blame it on the bad water flowing out of the Khari sewers. The thing in there is acidic and I could see their rancid flush having Nair like properties.
As for bracelet genetic scrambling, would that apply on Siptah?
The Bracelets haven’t been activated by entering the ghost wall yet…
Or is this just an example of Toth Amon’s depravity?
Interesting as this all is (and brave/foolhardy as TeleTesselator may be - I suspect from the confidence, perfectly capable of a blind scalp shave - I’ve only previously done it with modern razors - many years ago now - but the lack of mirror part is the bit I see as least of the problem) - there is one issue worth noting -
Shaving (head/beard or wherever) with a razor crafted from obsidian is cool - but does not entirely answer the question of how good an experience it would be in the EL. There, of course, it would not be possible to use modern tools and techniques to craft a smooth blade - flaking/knapping would be the only technique available. As far as I am aware, a skilled knapper can indeed craft a remarkably smooth blade, and these have been used in the past for shaving - but I must admit, I’m still not sure I would be confident to blind shave with a knapped blade - I might be willing to shave hair off a forearm to prove the ability of the blade, but perhaps less so head or face.
Yeah, when I was doing it, I always found it easiest without a mirror - it’s the full razor that I avoided. No way I’m trusting myself with a blade that sharp - when I was a kid I ‘tested’ a razor with my thumb (without actually knowing how you do that properly…). And only a few months back I sliced a finger to the bone cleaning (without due care and attention) a knife I’d just sharpened. I’d probably be fine shaving with a cut throat razor, but I know my tendency to lapses of attention, so why risk it