Pen to Wappa to Jijitsu-kon - Vol. 3 Ch. 22

[finalm]

Do you know about knapping? Ice can work in the same way. Breaking off sections of the original form can expose a very sharp portion.

I do. It's only viable on certain types of rocks. Brittle ones that break not along their crystalline structure lines. Ice does not do this. Even if it did, there's fundamentally the same problem - the mechanical energy you transmit into the ice in the process would quickly begin to melt the thin parts, in addition to the ambient temperature of the environment, thus dulling it again. It's not a question of technique, basic physics says it won't work.

As a side note - if you were to try sharpening it via knapping or some other very destructive process, you'd lose most of the original shape - which was important in the whole plan, since the wound had to match the knife at the framed guy's place.

 

[BanditHadron]

I do. It's only viable on certain types of rocks. Brittle ones that break not along their crystalline structure lines. Ice does not do this. Even if it did, there's fundamentally the same problem - the mechanical energy you transmit into the ice in the process would quickly begin to melt the thin parts, in addition to the ambient temperature of the environment, thus dulling it again. It's not a question of technique, basic physics says it won't work.

Hrmpf. Guess it only works in cold environments, then, because we used to do it all the time.

As a side note - if you were to try sharpening it via knapping or some other very destructive process, you'd lose most of the original shape - which was important in the whole plan, since the wound had to match the knife at the framed guy's place.

I'd forgotten about that, tbf.

 

[finalm]

Hrmpf. Guess it only works in cold environments, then, because we used to do it all the time.

Are you saying you were able to knap ice as if it was flint or obsidian? Without it shattering or deforming uncontrollably? Hell man, you should document that asap, because it sounds utterly unbelievable. Also, considering that it would be incomparably easier to just cut the ice into whatever shape you want, one has to wonder: why?

I even found a video of a guy putting in a good effort at this, no cigar though:

My comment on this is: ice may look and feel like glass, but on the micro scale it could hardly be more different. Ice has a highly organised crystalline structure, which is why is shatters all over the place. Glass (and by extension obsidian, some other materials are similar) has an irregular structure, allowing the formation of elongated conch-like surfaces of fracture - the base of all flintknapping techinque.

 

[BanditHadron]

Are you saying you were able to knap ice as if it was flint or obsidian?

Not exactly, no. As in, breaking a piece to get a sharper edge. Obviously the techniques aren't the same.