Home > Flint (tool)

Freshly made Mesolithic flint tools are very sharp, much sharper than the bronze or even iron blades that eventually replaced them. However they were brittle and easily damaged and could not be easily sharpened. Mesolithic stone tools were, perhaps, the first disposable mass-produced commodity. However, during Neolithic times highly polished blades were valuable tools which were routinely resharpened by careful flaking away from the cutting edge, or by repolishing, or by a combination of both.

For specialist purposes glass knives are still made and used today, particularly for cutting thin section s for electron microscopy. These knives are made from high-quality manufactured glass, however, not from natural raw materials such as flint.