Tutorial One - How To Cut A Gem

Today's bespoke gem I'm cutting is a piece of morganite (pink beryl). The plan is to cut an 8mm round brilliant. Here is the original peice of rough... i'm preforming it by hand to shape it before dopping it. Doing this removes any surface flaws and inclusions and allows me to see exactly what I'm working with. Now I make final decisions on how to best orientate the rough so as to achieve best colour and yield whilst avoiding any internal flaws or inclusions that may be present.

Next step is to affix the morganite rough to the dopstick. For this I use dopping wax heated over a metho burner. Gently heat the wax and the stone, push together and shape the wax. Once cooled I put the dopstick with the stone attached into my faceting machine and off I go. I now begin the actual cutting.

I begin with a fairly course diamond grit lap, usually 260 if there is alot of rough to remove, or 600 grit for finer cutting. You can start to see the shape of the gem now. I cut the pavilion first which is the bottom/underneath part of the gemstone.

Inspecting the stone. It is a constant process of checking to make sure everything is accurate and points meet. It's very easy to over cut a facet if you are not concentrating or in a rush. Patience is required.

Prepolishing using 3000 grit diamond. This removes any remaining surface scratches and gets the stone ready for the final polish. The secret of a excellent polish is an excellent pre-polish.

Polishing the pavilion, including the girdle. A well cut bespoke gem should always have a polished girdle... its the attention to detail that makes all the difference.

Now that the pavilion has been polished we next transfer the stone onto another dopstick so that we can cut the crown and table. For that we use a special little jig. For the second dopstick we use a special adhesive instead of wax.

Next it's time to tackle the crown. The important thing here is to make sure we cut a level girdle. Depending on how well you cut the pavilion and how accurate your machine will determine whether this is easy or incredibly frustrating.

The crown is nicely polished... now onto the final step... the table. Again, depending on how accurate the cutting has been will affect how well the table comes to meet the tips of the crown facets.

And lastly, the table. For this I use a special attachment that allows me to come straight down and cut the table surface flat and evenly.

Done! I finished up with an eye clean flawless 8mm round brilliant morganite (pink beryl) gem. I think the client is going to be very happy with this little beauty. And that folks, is how a bespoke gem is cut.

The finished bespoke gem :: morganite :: 2.1ct :: round brilliant :: eye clean :: the colour is much better and pinker in real life. It is a very bright and fine gemstone.

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Tutorial One - How To Cut A Gem