Slashdot Mirror
The Oldest Knives In The Solar System
al-bob writes: "For the person who has everything: handmade knives crafted from meteorites! These are beautiful knives with handles and/or blades made from extraterrestrial source materials. The guy bills them as the 'oldest knives in the solar system.' As someone said, 'not for the light of wallet'.
" So, anyone wants to think of me for my next birthday ...
Thanks for pointing that out. Brainfart. I saw a show once on PBS tat said some of these blacksmiths are considered national treasures.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Whoa, cool! I just found you can read Chapter 1 of all his stories at his official site. And it turns out she's 13. The "loop" is mentioned in the preview chapter.
TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
Having seen my terribly weak osm/portman Star Trek suggestion come to life as perfection is better than I imagined..
Great work!! ROFL, LMAO, etc.. Kick ass, and I ain't even been drinkin'...
.sig: Now legally binding!
I agree with your pretty but pointless response.
I can recommend a knife with all the same Geekiness factor as these and it is darn useful, too!
Try the Boker Ceramic folding knives. They contain a transformation toughened zirconia blade that folds into a 6/4 titanium handle. Not only will you know that you are cool with a ceramic bladed knife made out of the TOUGHEST ceramic in existance, but the ceramic/titanium combo makes this knife the least reactive to anything.
Of course, it is a ceramic blade so you won't have to ever sharpen it, but don't pry anything with it.
After 3 years of use, mine is just as sharp as the day I bought it.
--
The steel at the web site is just about as ugly as some of the foulmouth folks commenting above.
rx_chutzpah, the Doc.
I posted to the same discussion, and my email was, to the best of my knowledge not spamproofed at the time.. No special email, etc..
/. reader that prolly agreed with you implicitly and felt like pointing you to a [mainstream] news article that shared your viewpoint.. It's a nice thing, not EVIL SPAM.
He's indoubatibly a
.sig: Now legally binding!
As I sat here reading this, and desperately trying not to laugh so hard that I get spittle on my screen, I couldn't help but think of what a suit would do reading this post. He would not be laughing. If anything, this post would embarrass him immensely.
That is, I think, the biggest difference between suits and geeks, we can be serious and mirthful at the same time. This guy posted, on a (usually) serious forum, about a serious topic, the most off-the-wall and hilarious comments I have ever seen.
I'm not saying that suits can't laugh, but they wouldn't think that is funny. Why? Because it is not "appropriate" for the subject matter (offtopic?). Just as Suits wouldn't like Write Only Memory, or INTERCAL (two other greats IMHO). Their lives are segmented up into chunks, they read slashdot (not that any of them would) if they want "Stuff that Matters". They go to a nightclub if they want to laugh.
I often hear people tell me that geeks arn't "well rounded" because all we want to talk about is "computer stuff". That's not true, I'll talk to anyone about any technical topic, be it Unix, Physics, History, or a phalanx of other topics, but that's still not being 'well rounded'. Well rounded, to them, is talking about family, sports, and the weather (the weather, not meterology).
I will now make a pathetic attempt to become coherent. What I am trying to say is that we live life, we can take technical things, and serious things, and instead of saying "gee wiz, anyhow, crazy weather we've been having", we examine them, come to understand them at a deeper level, and poke fun at them. We can integerate our lives with human understanding of the world in which we live our lives.
That is, IMNSHO, one hell of a lot more 'well rounded' then conversations about how big franke is getting, if you saw the rams game, and about how some rain would be nice about now.
Jordan Bettis
``Wherever you go, there's another stupid sigfile quote.''YES! its posts like that one that make slashdot FUN to read! woohoo! keep em comin! :)
Cybie! aka Ralph Bonnell
Don't drop it either.. I dropped one (Early dull finish) and watched it shatter...
.sig: Now legally binding!
Bah. MCSE carry Phillips..
Buth the drop-point GATOR and the C10 have a tapered blade that works perfectly for everything from a T-15 Torx to the tiniest Phillips..
What real geek needs Phillips when they can hack something else into the job, right??
.sig: Now legally binding!
I could have sworn McLeod's sword (the one he picked up when Ramirez lost his head) was a very special Japanese Katana. I am not 100% sure if this is the same sword (movie) as in the series but this type of sword has was very special indeed. As explained to me by an expert in oriental antiques and armor, these swords were forged rather ceremoniously and were made of two types of steel. The 'Shingane' metal of the sword was a very low carbon steel and wasy very soft and provided great flexibilty in the final blade. The 'Kawagane' was the second steel used and was a very high carbon steel and is primarily responsible for the sharpness. A good sword maker typically controlled and increased additional carbon levels in his forge by a special process where the sword would be placed on the top of the hotest coals as new coals were pushed underneath them and allowed to burn. When the coals had burned to the original levels the sword would be taken out and worked while more coals were added. The swords were folded exactly 19 times. I cannot remember why exactly the number 19 but I beleive it was a superstition as the Japanese culture made powerful associations with specific numbers (ie 4 is bad luck ala 13 in the US yet 3 is very lucky ala 7 here). This number of folds has been debated vigorously for a long time. I understood it that 524,288 layers provided an unique combination of strength, flexibilty and the capability to keep an extremely sharp edge. (I have heard many times the number is 20 but the amount of layers created at 20 folds negated the effect and made for a very sharp very brittle sword.) Sword makers would sharpen swords and mark the 'Nakago' (tang) with a body count, the date, and thier signature each time the sword was serviced. The other sword bearing the mark of the Clan McLeod may have been damascus, this may be the sword you are referring to but I am unfamiliar with the particulars of it. Time to look for the tapes... an unfortunate side note: the expert was Dennis Szeszler, among the worlds foremost experts in oriental arts and culture. He passed away last year a few weeks before his 53 birthday of alchoholism. Dennis was my uncle.
Prospecting Stinks. Stop Wasting Time on Cold Calling.
No, only the elephant. Promoting any sort of ivory goods
naturally creates some demand for elephant ivory, if only
as a suitable raw ingredient for faking mammoth ivory.
Ever tried digging in permafrost?
I agree that this is way the hell up the slippery slope from
gorilla's palm ashtrays, but it is still a bit dodgy.
Bah, I want a monofilament whip. Ya know... that thing from ShadowRun...
Never heard of it, huh? Ever seen Johnny Mnemonic? Remember that guy's thumb? *G*
-- Dr. Eldarion --
It's not what it is, it's something else.
Where does this guy just happen upon a meteorite to carve his knives out of. I'm guessing most of these are made out of some basaltic volcanic rock or something not a genuine meteor. I mean come on where's he going to get his hands on one of these things? swipe it out of a NSF laboratory... I don't think so.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
NPS Internet Solutions, LLC
www.npsis.com
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
In the Warhammer world there are Meteorite Armours which actually fuse to your skin. I can't wait untill they sell those :-) -Bulletproof!- "Life's only purpose is life itself" -Alpha Centauri, Sid Meyer-
"Oooh, what does this button do?" - DeeDee
Thank you, sir, for the short flashback to MATE 226 and 246, Physical Metallurgy, with the
mighty Dr. W. D. Forgeng.
*sniff*
--Ben "Where on EARTH will we see THIS again, Dr. F??" August
--Ben
Then they contain a lot of Iridium, an element that is extremely rare on this planet, but common in metorites. Iridium is a very tough metal, and the higher the concentration of Iridium in a blade, the hotter it has to be and the harder you have to beat it to get it shaped correctly.
We should make Uranium-235 knives and make lots of money!
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
In the twilight, unknown"
If on the other hand, you consider the age of the whole, rather than its parts, then you have to be aware that those fancy meteorite knives were carved out of said meteorite quite recently, and that my grand parents' silver cutlery is certainly older. So, no matter how you look at it, these are not the oldest knives of the solar system, let alone the whole universe.
Say no to software patents.
And before that, in "Stand on Zanzibar", John Brunner had mono-filaments too.
A couple links of note for people interested in this stuff:
Meier Steel has some INCREDIBLE examples of Damascus steel work
This site has a very nice photo-essay on the making of traditional Japanese swords
It's spelled "duh", not "doh".
DUH!!!
Not me man. I want my marriage to be "null and void" off-planet.
Meteorite switchblades
*click*
(Large chunk chips off of blade)
"Dangit!"
We found a jeweller in California that did some custom work and someday soon I hope the superpowers will kick in.
Yeah, but you gotta play outside in a lightning storm to get the 1.21 gigawatts necessary to activate them...
Your Working Boy,
Hell, why not genetically engineer pigs to grow useful ivory tusks?
New from Electronic Arts: Bill Budge's 'Endangered Species Construction Set'...
(ooh yeah, I forgot that Loverboy song...)
Your Working Boy,
The problem with any sharp cutting instrument is that through repeated use the blade wears down requiring sharpening. The harder the steel used the more it resists dulling. However, this makes it harder to sharpen to a fine edge.
On the other hand, if you use a softer steel you are able to sharpen the blade to a finer edge but it must be sharpend more often.
The intent of damascus steel was to mix two types of steel, one hard and one soft. The end result would be a blade that would resist dulling more than a soft metal blade but could be sharpened to a finer edge than a hard metal blade.
I've come across quite a few web sites where blacksmiths have either supported the use of damascus, or felt that it was a waste of time. Either way a blade made out of damascus steel looks truly unique.
There isn't a whole lot of info at this site but it does show you what a damascus blade looks like compared to a regular steel blade.
I bought a pair of silver wedding bands from these folks for my wife and I several years ago. Very nice people, and great work. (No relation to said company, other than a very happy customer!)
First time I read about monofilament weapons was Larry Niven's "known space" stories, which had a weapon called a 'variable sword' - a monofilament enclosed in a stasis field, with a little red light to tell you where the far end was (the filament itself being too thin to see). I think it could extend from zero to several kilometers..
My understanding of Damascus steel knives, etc, is that separate pieces of iron and steel are first welded together. Then it is folded; the first fold yields 4 layers (since it started with 2 layers to begin with), each sucessive fold doubles the number of layers. To have 1024 layers doesn't require it to be folded 1000 times, if it were folded that many time the steel would become homogenous and lose the special qualities the technique gives it.
The alternating layers of hard and soft layers give the blade extreme flexability. The Rockwell hardness is dificult to determine, there is usually a wide variation, since it depends upon where on the blade it is tested, as well as the materials used. Etching the blade reveals the pattern of the folds and imparts a unique asthetic beauty to each blade.
Damascus regained popularity in the late 1980's when knife manufacturers learned how to mass produce these blades. I own 8 such knives produced by Parker circa 1988 to 1989.
"Open code, in other words, can be a check on state power." -Lawrence Lessig
In the "Riverworld" saga, by Philip José Farmer, Erik Bloodaxe carries a very precious axe made of meteoritic iron, since it's the only source of pure metal available in that setting.
Of course, Mark Twain and the others establish a Esperanto-speaking industrial culture later, but...
__
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
Hoot!
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Don't the have these now? I seem to recall something on Discovery channel, talking about some research company using single-atom width knives (probably more like scalpels) to prepare really delicate samples for study. Of course, not exactly available on the Home Shopping Channel...
Larry Niven's Ringworld series had swords, with extensible single-atom-wide blades, encased in some kind of energy field to protect their fragility, but they'd cut instantly through anything. Monowire blades, or something like that.
I just remembered this old Metallica song. . .
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Why not? You can't dig a hole in Siberia without hitting one of the buggers. Plus, the eco-nazis can't complain that the ivory trade will result in the extinction of the mammoth.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Damascus steel is forged by folding, as are the traditional oriental blades. I think that this is a case of parellel evolution, but I'm not completely certain.
The oriental blades have two parts - a core and an outer skin. Both are folded multiple times. The outer skin is high carbon, (to hold an edge) the core is milder steel (for flexibility). This doesn't matter much for knives, but is essential if you want a katana that you can shave with and that doesn't crack when hitting a bone.
In addition to the mutiple types of steel, traditional blades are differentially tempered. A clay shell is put on the blade, the clay is thinnest on the edge. The entire unit is heated past the curie point and quenched. The Edge has the least amount of clay, so the quenching cools it the fastest. This makes the edge hard (and sharp) without making the rest of the blade brittle.
Continuing this lecture, for anybody still with us, the edge and the remainder of the skin have two distinct tempers with two distinct crystal structures. The boundary between these two areas is a visible temper line. Cheap imitations will have etched onto them something vaguely similar to a temper line for the sake of authenticity. The temper line is intentially wavy to help keep cracks from spreading.
Communist. Next you'll be saying we shouldn't use powdered rhinoceros horn to arouse our beloved's desire.
Obsidian knives have been around for thousands of years. Not quite as long as meteorites, but hey.
It's probably where Stephenson got the idea... it fits with the picture of Raven as master of pre-metaverse aboriginal traditions.
--Seen
"I used to be a dilettante. Then I thought I'd try something else for a while."
Excellent, my man, simply excellent.
Also, good work posting this at night, you may escape the Evil Romulan Moderators yet.
(Oh NO, they were just cloaked a short distance away! My karma will be gone too, if I can't say anything about "Knives Crafted From Meteorites" in the next 30 seconds!!!)
Um... ummm...
Hey, isn't all the metal on Earth that's heavier than Lead or so from Supernova residue anyhow? Wouldn't that be pretty old too? Actually, isn't it all the same age, and just tossed around for a while longer? Hey, why not harass a comet and sell dirty ice while you're at it? Capitalist pigdogs...
---
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate.
How lame is it that he refuses to teach anyone how to make obsidian blades in order to maintain "quality of the industry"?
Sounds like a total wanker to me. He should share that tech, lest he accidentally fall on one of his blades (which I'm sure are undoubtedly extremely cool), and the tech of 10,000 years is lost again.
He's not an archeologist, I think. He's an egomaniac who just happens to make good blades.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Singlar is knife. Plural is knives.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
I seriously doubt you would find much in the way of amino acid or other genetic precursors in an _Iron_ meteorite. The ones with interesting material in them tend to be carbenaceous with a low metal content and somewhat less useful for making knives, or any sort of cutlery out of.
Those space-rock knives are pretty cool. How much to they cost? If I had one of those, I could cut stuff that's out of this world :=)
-----------------------------------------
Perversely greped and groped by PowerPenguin
--I think monofilament was mentioned in the original "Johnny Mnemonic" (NOT the one with Keanu!) and used with a detachable false fingertip to assassinate somebody by cutting them into chunks.
.
== WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
Anything above iron in the periodic table of elements didn't originate from our sun, but rather from supernovas
I'll take my knives in extraterrestrial lead, silver, and gold please!
Life is like an egg better scrambled than fried. -- Ken Sawatari
pfffft.. barely a 3" blade. Save your money and buy a short sword. size is everything.
If size is everything why stop at a short sword? We demand 2 handed swords forged from planetary diamond formed from the intense pressure at the heart of jupiter!
I own a Kershaw T1 - Hawk (model 1435 - uses ATS 34 metal/alloy) and I must say it's much nicer than any of the other knives I own (of which, I have about 20 good lock-blade folding knives) and I highly recommend it. A rather large knife shop in Jack London Square (Oakland CA) informed me that this was the best lock blade knife in their shop when taking into account, size, form factor, weight, how well the blade holds an edge, etc. Remarkably, at $130 there were many other more expensive lock blade knives by various other companies I had never heard of.
I highly recommend this knife to anyone who is willing to spend a little bit more on a knife to get a great knife.
It's a fairly simple knife (there aren't any gems or exotic materials used in this knife other) with a titanium handle with cutouts to make it lighter, an ATS 34 blade, and a build in/removeable clip. You can open and close the knife with one hand (it opens rather quickly and smoothely).
In general, Kershaw makes some damned fine knives.
Titanium blades with steel edge! I could have used one of these in Traveler(tm)(May it rest in peace).http://www.arizonacustomknives .com/thomas-warren.htm Sorry about the double posts (It was not my fault, it was my brain!)
IIRC, every element heavier than iron is made in the fury of a supernova. The carbon catalysis cycle in main-sequence fusion can produce only up to iron (element # 27). Personally, I find it fascinating that two-thirds of the periodic table is made in the instantaneous death rage of a large star.
one day in the "geek compound"...
mr. hemos: captain malda, i have determined that napster stories are bringing in three to five hundred comments a piece! think of the banner revenues!
captain malda: captain to engineering!
engineer roblimo: engineer roblimo here, sir.
captain malda: mr. roblimo... crank out some more napster stories!
engineer roblimo: but captain... the trained monkeys can't take much more! they're pulling them out of the queue as fast as they can!
captain malda: not fast enough, mr. roblimo!
engineer roblimo: we need more submissions!
captain malda: damnit, roblimo, just make something up!
lieutenant jamie: captain, we're receiving a transmission from an unidentified source.
captain malda: patch it through!
osm(over speaker): i want to open-source natalie portman's firm teen buttocks and pouting teen breasts!
helmsman emmett: captain... look!
an aibo approaches the compound.
lieutenant jamie: captain, the transmission is coming from the aibo!
captain malda: helmsman emmett... moderate it down: -2, flamebait!
helmsman emmett applies the moderation. the aibo pauses but keeps approaching.
osm (over speaker): your feeble moderation points are no match for the power of my modified aibo!
captain malda: engineering, we need more power in the moderation system!
engineer roblimo: but captain... the moderation system is at maximum power!
captain malda: i don't want excuses, roblimo... give me that power!
the aibo begins to move forward, a large antenna rises from the nose.
captain malda: mr. roblimo!
the antenna starts to glow.
captain malda: mr. roblimo!!
the antenna glows brighter.
engineer roblimo: captain! i have jerry-rigged the moderation system! i converted it to a bitchslap system!
captain malda: helmsman, fire!
helmsman emmett presses the fire button. just as an enormous comment begins transmitting through the speaker...
osm (over speaker): star (as in hot young actress) wars. a story of tender love. it is a period....
the transmission is terminated by the bitchslapping. captain malda relaxes.
captain malda: good work mr. roblimo!
mr. hemos: captain, sensors have detected that yeoman portman was beamed off the ship... into the aibo!
captain malda: lieutenant jamie, open a channel.
captain malda: osm! return yeoman portman at once!
yeoman portman (over speaker): blow it out your ass, dork! i want a real man! an open-source man! a man that knows how to caress my firm teen buttocks and suckle my pouting teen breasts! not a boy who has bad dreams and shits a lot!
osm (over speaker, clearly ecstatic): hahahahahahahahahahahaha! i took a bitchslapping for natalie portman! hahahahahahaahahahahahahaha! come natalie, i will take you to quicktrip and woo you with a vegetarian burrito. i will then take you to see the buffalo and touch you.
yeoman portman (over speaker): oh, open-source man! how my innocent teen heart has yearned for the tender touch of your open-source hand!
osm and yeoman portman (over speaker): hooray!
captain malda: cut that off!
the aibo turns and disappears. transmissions continue beaming from the aibo and are broadcast over the speaker.
captain malda: what the hell is the matter with that guy?!
dr. katz: damnit, rob, i'm a teen-angst zealot, not a psychiatrist!
captain malda (clearly infuriated): engineering!! where the hell are those napster stories?!!
i like german girls. and nannies.
Yeah, I hit it with a metorite.
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
(Posted by Uncle Al in alt.sci.physics.new-theories on 01/22/2000)
You can also check out The UL archive for more info...
-BW
the kife I found in vinny's back looked older than that.
--
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Do we really need more people to drool over the "loveliness" of ivory, in any form? Sure its long dead mammoth ivory not african ivory, but this guy also uses water buffalo horns in his weirdo knife fetish thats fit for the HSN. Call me crazy buy shouldn't mammoth ivory be in a musueum or anywhere but a knife collector's hilt?
/. providing traffic for someone who glorifies ivory (if african ivory was still available as it was in its heyday I'm sure he'd still be using it) looks pretty anachronistic.
I don't want to sound too PETA-esque but a progressive site like
Blackheart: Mr. Simpson, I think you'll find this amount more than fair.
Lisa: Dad, I think he's an ivory dealer! His boots are ivory, his hat is ivory, and I'm pretty sure that check is ivory.
Homer: Lisa, a guy who's got lots of ivory is _less_ likely to hurt Stampy than a guy whose ivory supplies are low.
but I've just been informed that the more modern spelling is "knife".
--
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
There once was a cutler from venus
Endowed, you'd think equine his genus
His choice in career
Was the source of his fear
His wife threatened to cut off his penis!
I'm just not into conspicious consumption...
Is there any proof that these knives are made from "meteorites"? There have been cases of people just sayinf it was... the selling point is "I own something from outer space". (Yeah, half those "stars" you can get named after you don't even exist when you check, yet more proof for PT Barnum...) Seriously- how do you prove it? I'm not trying to be flamebait, but this does seem pretty suspicious.
While these are wicked cool if you have the cash, I just had to point out that they're not any older than anything else in the universe. If you want to go down to the level of quarks, the matter that makes up us, the knives, and the galaxies has been around for 12 billion years. Even then, as far as the formation of the solar system is concerned, our most recent data seems to show that the gas giants formed first, with the terrestrial planets all coming into existence at about the same time a few hundred million years later. Since most meteorites are either left over debris or remnants from a destroyed/failed planet between Mars and Jupiter, we basically have the knives tied, age-wise.
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
Hmmm...I should get me one of those...
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
i would like to order a set. My, uh, girlfriend needs a few knives in her back...uh, I mean rack...she needs a few knives in her kitchen rack.
Yours Sincerely,
Orenthal James Simspon
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
Damascene steel is really an interresting material. For you Highlander fans out there this is the kind of steel used in his sword. Basically, a blacksmith pounds the metal stock flat, folds it in half and pounds it flat again. Masters of this process can be found in Japan. Often they create blades that have been folded thousands of times. Without having read any in-depth studies on what this does to the metal, I surmise that the metal crystal lattice structure becomes highly uniform/aligned perpindicular to the edge of the blade. This would make the blade stiffer when striking an object with the blade while remaining flexible from the side. In most cases some form of carbon steel is used since the layers must be beaten/fused/spot-weleded between layers. This also means that the blade must be kept very clean or surface will form rust very easily. Another problem is if the blade is poorly crafted it may delaminate between layers like the first cheap Damascus knife I bought.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
It is a ridiculous, preposterous story, and you think that people would want some proof before they devote their life to it! What you should really do is put your faith in Jesus ..
:-)
I'm going to make the safe assumption that this irony was intentional, and take this opportunity to congratulate you on a very funny bit of satire.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
Yes, meteorites are extremely rare. That's why scientists go wandering around on the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica just to look for the things. Every one that they find they study extensively. But hey--why examine them to understand the isotope chemistry of the solar system or even to find clues as to the origin of life? Cut them up instead to make a profit selling ostentatious knives that will never get used!
Another place I've seen extreme microfilaments mentioned was in Orson Scott Card's Wyrms . The protagonist, a 15-year old heiress trained as an assassin, kept a very thin (i.e., molecules wide...) cord in her hair for strangling herself if necessary. Wyrms is a great book, BTW. Very strange in places but flows extremely well.
TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
... just as long as you stab Jon Katz with it :)
(joking, joking...)
Nicholas
disclaimer: opinions contained therein are not neccessarily those of my employer.
Is that the clueless claxon I hear firing It is! It is!
Dirty Pirate Hooker
Ive made glass knives for ultramicrotomy before. We used them to section samples for a transmission electron microscope. Although they dont have a single atom edge they are super sharp and easy to make. I havent done this in years so all of this is being pulled out of the haze. If you know what I am trying to say, please jump right in and flesh out the details.
Basically we took a small rectangle of quarter inch thick plate glass and scored it diagonally with a diamond cutter. Then we broke along the score and examined the sharpest edge under a low power microscope. To check the quality ISTR looking for some sort of visual effect caused by diffraction or interference. Of course we also made sure it had a nice straight, even blade. It took a few tries to get a good blade, but man was it ever sharp. These things would shave microns off of a hard plastic sample.
I dont know about making weapons out of these knives though. You might be able to fashion a decent spear head, but that is about it.
-BW
The edge _is_ and atom wide. At least right after you break it. Over time the edge dissipates. For transmission electron microscopy, you need a realy thin sample, and such disposable "break and use once" knives are common. Stephenson is cool, but you shouldn't take his tech too seriously.
Now, STM is something totally different. It only works with conductive (and semi-conductive, for your advanced chip design research buffs) materials. SFM works with anything. Both SFT and STM can be seen as first draft nanotech manipulators.
yeah... i think they use something similar to cut tissue samples for microscopy etc. I don't think that the blade is atom wide though
--
GroundAndPound.com News and info for martial artists of all styles.
What was your score? Another thing that makes me suspicious is that I didn't actually post anything - I just pasted in a URL that dialected the the copyright violation notice, or some such. Being, as it was, a cut and paste, it got moderated up to 4 (like all cut and pastes do :P ).
So, I'm saying, my post was a no-op. No content, nothing with which to agree. That email is spam.
Come on, someone else has to have gotten this. Speak up!
i browse at -1 because they're funnier than you are.
heh. it's not spam.
welcome to life in the fast lane.
--
blue
i browse at -1 because they're funnier than you are.
Broblem with a edged weapon made out of glass is that glass is amorphic, not crystal, and it acts like very stiff liquid. You can make extremely sharp edge, but it will become dull by itself (=even when not used) in couple of weeks.
---------------
Fire Your Boss!
Hunh.. Odd.. I think I had a 3; Said something stupid about it and got the obligational +'s..
Then again, I can't seem to find that post, so perhaps I'm mistaken...
Perhaps he snagged the first X-num manually. news.com doesn't pay by clickthru, etc, so an additional audience would make zero sense in the terms of spamming.. The crowd you get here now consists of only the die hards, so they poseted as well [assumption] and someone would have seen the 'spam'..
Like I said, prolly just a decent 'netizen'.
Slap me. I just used a Marketdroidism..
.sig: Now legally binding!
To find Metal I would suggest a 8" dia plywood hoop with 16 coils of 24awg, 1 LM555, 4 resistors, 2 capacitors, trim Pot, and a 9v battery.
Grab the red and yellow Trail-Bags you have and walk out your door and on to the glaciers near you and I would bet even you could find some.
Have fun.
PS: The banners support this site, your sig supports what? Ego? or is it just Spam?
http://www.cosmic-cutlery.com/toc.html also offers a selection of knives & jewelry made from meteorites.
Unfortunately, it's also rather pricy, but hey - what did you expect?
you have moved your mouse, please reboot to make this change take effect
The knife in question is what is termed as an "Art Knife" (though most art knives don't venture quite so far into the rare/exotic materials category), sort of a functional work of art. How functional? Well, a priceless bit of jewelery, you can theoretically wear, but a priceless knife, you can theoretically use to prepare lunch. You might well never do either, but in theory, the knife is more practical :-)
There is quite a community of people (me included) who are fascinated by knives, and who carry one or more around as a matter of course -- perhaps not a $2100 meteorite art knife, mind you, but I do know people who carry (and use) $500 custom-made pocket knives on a daily basis. (And, by the way, the vast majority of these people are sane, rational, level-headed types, who consider their knives to be tools, not weapons.)
For the two percent or so of the studio audience who are thinking, "hmm, this meteorite knife isn't for me, but the topic of knives is interesting", I would heartily recommend these sites for further information:
This is the most popular "web-based BBS" site for discussion of all things sharp and shiny. Lively discussions with everyone from the merely curious to avid collectors, to amateur and professional knife makers, and the CEOs of some of the most highly regarded knife companies.
This online knife store is a one-man operation, a self-professed "collector turned dealer to support his habit" (and advocate for the sane use of sharp shiny things), who provides tons of good background information on the use, care, and rationale behind knives, without a hard sales pitch. My favorite place to point friends who become curious about knives.
My main concern is - how many mana slots are there? Are they linked? What's the AP growth like? 'Cause unless these are really great, I'm holding onto my Ragnarok.
*N
We are all made of material that pre-dates the formation of the Solar System. (most) All the heavy particles every made were ejected from a Super Nova. That's how heavy elements are made. Everything on our planet (other than a small amount of Reactor Ort and some bits created in particle accelerators) is made of Star Dust.
Just like the stank hippy said," We are Stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon".
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
(IIRC) Yes and no. We can make damascus (basically, folding layered metal over and over) but we don't know how it was originally done. It's extremely difficult, and the technology/techniques seem too advance for the time period that damascus steel first appeared in.
...This is old, Nickle Iron Meteorites where the source of the some of man's earliest METAL knives!
Those who don't learn from the past are bound to repeat... I'm waiting for the Amiga to come back myself.
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
TastesLikeHerringFlavoredChicken
this is a knife.
:)
meteorite knife?? that sounds somewhat gimmicky. maybe for cutlery buffs. but i'll take a spyderco any day
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
The are rather expensive, at about $800 - $2100 each! Cool though...
--Nicholas
But that was so damned funny. OMG I laughed so hard I almost bought a round.
*claps loudly* BRAVO! Author! Author!
Ceci n'est pas une sig.
Dennis Well, but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just 'cause some watery tart threw a sword at you!
Arthur Shut up!
Dennis I mean, if I went 'round saying I was an emperor just because some moistened bint had lobbed a scimitar at me, they'd put me away!
Arthur Shut up, will you? Shut up!
Dennis Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system.
Arthur Shut up!
Dennis Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
Arthur Bloody peasant!
Dennis Oh, what a give-away. Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about. Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn't you?
although these knives look sweet as hell, I wonder... isn't there some kind of certification that exsists to prove that extra-terrestrial material was used? What should someone look for when purchasing these goodies? This guy uses the same ISP as me... hmmm, maybe he'd be cool enough to show me his collection.
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
I almost forgot to mention that thses blades also hold an edge very well. Probably due to the many stiff layers at the blade edge.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
OK, well this is for Hemos's birthday, so the mind boggles. How about a 10/100 Ethernet option?
Or the Beowulf clustering option...
--Seen
"I used to be a dilettante. Then I thought I'd try something else for a while."
did you get the mail, or not? i really want to know if someone is evil enough to harvest addresses from a /. posting and spam to them regarding some stupid article on news.com - especually since i really like that site.
i browse at -1 because they're funnier than you are.
Beeeep...... Jesus is not in right now, if you want to leave a message, pray after the beep.
Dirty Pirate Hooker
I own one. (Not from this compamy; A decade older, secondhand from a buddy that need the money, much less expensive)
They're knives, tools. Why anyone would want one at these [assumed] prices is beyond me. I haven't even taken mine out of the Lucite case, because the manufacturer assured me that in order to maintain a high concentration of 'extra-terrestrial' material they needed to make serious comprimises on the usefulness of the implement. Soft, easily dulled, terribly malleable and often in-the-box magnetic [as is mine].
We're all proletarian; Buy yourself a nice Gerber Gatorback or a Leatherman and laugh at any fool who would buy one. The Case C10 is VERY nice, if you can find one. I've carried three, but the price on antique knives is escalating so I've switched to said Gerber.
.sig: Now legally binding!
What have you been smoking? Ever looked through a telescope? Rest assured, Jupiter, its moons, the rings of Saturn, and asteroids are real. OK, I never actually saw an asteroid through a telescope, but I've read articles written by people who have, and I don't have any reason to doubt them. Oh, and as someone who also believes in God, I'd like to remind the rest of you that this nut cake is not representative.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Hmmmm...
I.e. If I go out and pick up a 10 year old rock. Make a knive out of it. Is it really older that a knive that had been made 2 hours ago from some manufacturer?
That is absolutely correct. I would like to add a technical note tough. The folding, and therefore the amount of layers is not what gives the blade it's qualities: The trick is to get the exact amount of carbon to obtain the ferrite that will serve as the core of the blade: very ductile, and the exact amount of carbon to get the pearlite that forms the edge. The quality depend on the microstructure. (nowadays, you can easily have any composition you want, we can melt the steel - which was not possible at the time) In fact, when one cuts a well crafted blade, the gradient of carbon composition appears very clearly - the secret of getting the gradient is the heat treatment, different for the edge than from the rest of the blade. Indeed, forging such a sword using modern techniques is remaquably easy: as the crystallisation process is now well known - but at the time, it represented a fantastic feat of engineering. Sorry for your uncle.
From the site:
Meteorites are more rare than any other material on earth.
I'm just being picky here, but I would guess almost all of the radioactive materials are less available than meteorites. After all they have half lifes. But who want a radioactive knife?
Imagine trying to defend yourself:
Stand back.... or I'll give you cancer... and you will die in five years if you don't get proper treatment!!!!
-- Virtual Windows Project
"Well, Miranda, why don't you tell our viewers what makes these superb knives so special."
"OK. Bob, as you will see each UNIQUE! HANDCRAFTED! COLLECTORS ITEM! uses a wide variety of exotic materials including:
Premium Wooly Mammoth ivory
Premium ancient walrus ivory
Fossil Cave Bear canines
Extinct Stellar's Seacow bone
Fossil Dinosaur bone
Black Coral
Baculite (fossil ammonite - beautiful patterns)
Fossil Whale bone
Fossil Palm wood
Musk Ox horn
Pietersite (blue/gold/red)
Lapis Lazuli stone (deep royal blue)
Azurite/Malachite stone (blue and green)
Sodalite stone (blue with white veins)
Jade (various shades of green and black)
Snakewood, ironwood, ebony, rosewood, bog oak, bloodwood, burls
Plus other exotic woods, antler, horn and stones
And don't forget, Bob, THE SELECTION IS ALWAYS GROWING!"
"That's right, Miranda, and you know what the best thing is?"
"No, Bob, tell me."
"For a mere USD 3500, one of these great pieces can be YOURS! Dial 1-800-SUCKER NOW! and we'll send you an extra PlasmaStove at no extra cost with your order!"
"Wow, Bob! That's amazing! Such a great deal! Why, I'll order mine RIGHT NOW!"
I just got mine today. It says "Made in Taiwan" on the shaft.
News and bla for computer musicians: http://lomechanik.net/
And then there's "shigawire" in Dune, and a bunch of variants
in various Niven stories. I think there must have been some
contemporary science in the 60s that fed in to all these fictional
devices; anyone know anything about that?
By the way, for anyone hasn't taken a look at "Stand on Zanzibar"
by Brunner: what the hell are you doing here?
Let's think about this.
:>
1) These knives are actually new the material they are made with is old.
2) Since matter can neither be created nor destroyed and since all matter was created at the time of the big bang aren't my Ginsu's just as old as the "meteor" knives???
3) If you really think these knives are older than any other knife (4.5 quak-a-zillion) years old why would you but one when you could get a brand new knife for less money
One of my small victories in our wedding plans was that I wanted our bands to be made from meteorite metal. The metal is from a crash site in Africa 13,000 years ago. We found a jeweller in California that did some custom work and someday soon I hope the superpowers will kick in.
You know, I thought this guy was kidding, until I read the responses. Anyway, here's my own reply (with a little help from the Woody Allen play "God"):
>So why is it that we accept, sight unseen, that >these things exist?
OK, so these things we don't see might not exist. But what if things we do see don't exist. Or what's worse, what if nothing exists? Or even worse, what if only that fat guy in the third row exists?
------- Was it just a coincidence I got moderator points the first time I logged on to
I wanna get a glass knife (single atom width) that Raven from Stephenson's book Snow Crash uses. Anyone know when will something like that be possible?
--
GroundAndPound.com News and info for martial artists of all styles.
Yes, I seem to recall somthing about mixing alloys. Some of the patterns that can be formed are pretty cool too. Another recent advancement is a company invented a method of producing stainless steel pseudo Damascene steel from powdered metal. Inexpensive and very pretty.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
How much do you think ANDN was paid to post this advertisement?
Karma: Dyn-o-mite!(mostly affected by Jimmy Walker reading your comments)
From hiwaay.net's Web Server FAQ:
/. effect might speed up the process ;)
When will HiWAAY move to a new web server for individual accounts?
We just don't know exactly. It is not needed right now and is not expected to be needed for a long time... MONTHS!
The
It's a modern replica. Damascus steel is essentially very high carbon steel, which would normally be as brittle as glass, but extensively hot worked to retain some ductility. Old Damascus steel was made of sponge iron painstakingly extracted as little nuggets and hammered together into larger pieces on a wooden anvil. The wood naturally carbonized and surface coatings of the carbon got successively layered into and the metallic matrix forming Fe3C. The carbide content gives the metal its edge and strength; the softer iron matrix it's ductility. Modern "Damascus" steels are almost always come from molten iron stock, which unlike the never molten sponge irons, has major ductility problems right from the start which precludes the hot working necessar to make it sufficiently ductile. To get around this, they use a soft low carbon core with layers of high carbon "Damascus" on top. It works OK, but it's not a true Damascus. To make a true Damascus, you need a primitive iron ore reducing fire, infinite patience to make sure all your sponge iron nuggets get chemically reduced without melting ore getting too much crud in them, a stong hammering arm, a wooden anvil, a non-flaking stone hammer, and, yes, a lot more time to keep working and working this thing over a course of weeks or months until it reaches the right combination of hardness/ductility. You /could/ make a modern Damascus the old way, but it would really try the patience and definitely not be economic.
I think we'll all sleep a little better tonight knowing that Christina Aguilera is on guard to protect the universe. Hey, Steve, where did you put those plans for world domination via hypnotic suggestions planted in Napster songs? I think my copy got destroyed by a meaty asteroid from space. No wait, I accidentally ran it through my TCP/IP enabled washing machine. Nevermind. I just wish I knew how to achieve moderation nirvana using only an old issue of Time Magazine and a blue hamster! YEAH! That would rock. Except I don't like those crackers with the fake cheese on top. What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson? Jumping Joe has left and gone away? Did he accidentally swallow an AOL disk? There ought to be a warning label. I think there's a portal back to everyday reality here somewhere, but I don't care to find it. NARF!