Cutting fruit or vegetables with thin skins____________
Type of cut
Description and notes
Draw your observations
Cut through the surface, not too deep at different places with both tools. How “clean” is the cut for the stone relative to the steel? Does is look smooth or jagged?
The cut with steel looks smooth while that made with stone looks jagged.
Steel cuts easier than stone.
Cut a section off of the object, including skin and the underlying flesh with both tools. It should be about ¼ of the object. Was steel or stone easier to use?
Steel was easier to use in cutting than stone.
The edges of steel are sharper than those of stone.
Using the piece, you just cut, separate the skin from the flesh. Your goal is to produce pieces of skin and flesh that are as large as possible. Did the stone or the steel produce the largest pieces? Which one was better at removing flesh from skin?
Working with steel was easier than stone, and it produced larger pieces. The stone produced pieces and separating the flesh, and the skin was difficult.
Steel is sharper hence able to cut through easily. Stone blade is very blunt thus cuts small pieces slower.
Tooth Marks vs. Cut marks on bone or wood
Type of cut
Description and notes
Draw your observations
If you have access to cooked bone and you do not have any philosophical objections to it, create a cut mark using your provided shark tooth. Otherwise, you can use wood.
Describe the mark according to its: depth, edges, and groove. Use your magnifying glass to see finer details.
The cut made using shark tooth is deeper, and the edges are slightly jagged.
Shark tooth is like the saw blades hence cuts deep, but the cuts look rugged.
Using the same bone create a cut like a mark using your provided stone blade. Describe the mark according to its: depth, edges, and groove.
Use your magnifying glass to see finer details.
Stone blade cuts through meat shallowly and leaves more jagged edges.
Stone blade is very blunt.
1. Which tool worked better over all? Why?
The steel blade worked best because it is sharper than the stone and light so it could cut through the fruit easily.
2. Was there a difference in the strength or pressure you used for the different tool types?
Using stone blade required the most pressure because it was blunt. The shark blade required moderate pressure while the steel blade required the least pressure.
3. What common types of tasks that you normally use the steel blade for could you safely use the stone blade?
a. If possible, try some of these. How did it go?
Stone blade can be used to cut a cord to open a box, smash bones, cut tree branches, cut meat and large fruits (Lubbock 13). It was much easier using a blade to cut these items than using stone blade.
4. What are the major differences you can detect between the cut made by steel vs. those made by stone?
The cuts made by steel have smooth edges while those made by stone have jagged edges. Also, cuts made by steel are larger in pieces while those made by stone are smaller in pieces. Additionally, cuts made by stone lead to a lot of breakage in the process of cutting while those made by steel did not break.
Work Cited
Lubbock, John. Pre-Historic Times: As Illustrated By Ancient Remains And The Manners And Customs Of Modern Savages. Vol. 8. JA Hilliard Company, 1904.
