Cutting the stone :
Amethyst, Utopia Pear, #41

What I wanted to do here was to give you an idea of how a stone gets cut.

The stone starts off in the "rough" and is attached to a short brass rod called a "dop" using hot wax. The dop is inserted into the "quill" which can be rotated in increments.

The quill can be set at certain angles as determined by the design being cut and in some of the photos you can see the digital angle read out. Precision cutting gems, ie. faceting, is all about correct and accurate angles.

I generally start out cutting the bottom of the gemstone, which is called the "pavilion". The "girdle" comes next which is the middle band around the gemstone. After this, the stone is then "transferred" onto a second dop and the cutting of the top half, the "crown", is done. Finally the "table" which is the top surface of the gem is cut.

To give you an idea of the number of facets on a gemstone, a standard round brilliant has 89 facets. Now, when we cut a stone we are actually grinding it on "laps". These laps have diamond grit impregnated into them and come in different grades, like sandpaper. A typical cutting sequence would be to start with 100 grit (very rough) --> 600 grit --> 1200 grit (fine) --> 3000 pre-polish --> 50,000 polish. This means that we have to touch each facet 5 times which means we are in effect cutting 445 facets!!! And you can get designs that have 150+ facets, so think about that! Cutting a fine gemstones takes time and patience... that's what you're paying for.

Once completed, the finished gemstone is removed from the dop, cleaned to remove all the traces of wax and then its ready to sparkle.

The pavilion of the stone has been cut and polished.

Shot of the faceting "head". The head tilts up and down and sets the angle of the facet. There is a round indexed dial that is used to turn the quill. The entire head attached to the "mast" allowing it to swing in and out.

The stone has been transferred to another dop and we are ready to cut the crown. Notice the rough surface on the top... this will all be cut away.

Cutting the crown.

The crown has been cut and is ready for polishing.

Polishing the crown. Each and every facet has to be polished individually.

Closeup of the polished crown.

The table has been cut and is now being polished. A special attachment is used to get a perfectly flat table top.

Perfectly polished table.

All done.

The finished gem.

Bespoke Gems is home to a beautiful collection of fine handcut gemstones. These lovely coloured gems have been precision custom cut from such precious and semi precious gemstones as amethyst, ametrine, aquamarine, beryl, black spinel, blue topaz, carnelian, chalcedony, chrysoberyl, chrysoprase, asscher cut citrine, garnet, lapis lazuli, peridot, rose de france amethyst, rose quartz, ruby and zoisite, sage green quartz, sapphire, smokey quartz, topaz, asscher cut tourmaline, rubellite tourmaline, zircon and many others. All gem designs have been optimized to bring out the best in the gemstone and cover a wide range of contemporary and traditional designs, such as the classic asscher cut. Bespoke Gems also has educational articles on the art of gem cutting and what to look for when buying a gem. Please enjoy and thank you for visiting. :-)

All art, images, photos, text and indeed everything contained on this website is the copyright of Doug Menadue - Bespoke Gems. All rights reserved.
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