Gem faceting

[Double E]

I managed to find some silver white heated zircons which are quite inexpensive and clean. Just wanted to acquire a pcs or two for later cutting as they should cut beautiful gems given their dispersion.

I have also in mind some other relatively cost friendly stones like electric blue topaz, ana Madeira citrine. I also come across something called Ox blood citrine, am not really familiar with this species.

 

[Double E]

Returned to cutting today. The OEC.
Cutting those facet A. I think it kind of ruined the symmetry of the crown, which I thought was not bad last time after I cut and adjust facet B and C.


Nearly all the points of facet A failed to meet and align with B and C, as you may see in above pics. Apart from I am still cutting crown first for this stone, I believe setting the angle of facet A not patient and accurate enough was another main reason. Most facet A are leaning towards left. I made use of polishing to fine tune those facet A to some extent, but things were still off.

I also witnessed the difficulties to polish as you guys mentioned. This is a ametrine. I found it easy to be scratched.

 

[Double E]

Is facetdiagrams.org the main source of locating facet designs? And I just need to adjust the chosen design to the RI of my material to get the accurate angles to cut?

 

[PrecisionGem]

I sent you an email with a tool to tangent ratio angles. It's pretty simple, enter the angles from your existing diagram in the red cells, then under the new angle enter the first tier angle you want to cut at. The spreadsheet calculates the other tiers keeping the same proportions and meet points.

 

[Double E]

I sent you an email with a tool to tangent ratio angles. It's pretty simple, enter the angles from your existing diagram in the red cells, then under the new angle enter the first tier angle you want to cut at. The spreadsheet calculates the other tiers keeping the same proportions and meet points.

Thx Gene. I’ll look into it!

 

[PrecisionGem]

Returned to cutting today. The OEC.
Cutting those facet A. I think it kind of ruined the symmetry of the crown, which I thought was not bad last time after I cut and adjust facet B and C.


Nearly all the points of facet A failed to meet and align with B and C, as you may see in above pics. Apart from I am still cutting crown first for this stone, I believe setting the angle of facet A not patient and accurate enough was another main reason. Most facet A are leaning towards left. I made use of polishing to fine tune those facet A to some extent, but things were still off.

I also witnessed the difficulties to polish as you guys mentioned. This is a ametrine. I found it easy to be scratched.

I would have cut the crown in the order A, B, C. I think you went B, C, A.

What are you polishing the quartz with? Quartz can be a pain to polish, I would rather polish 3 sapphires than one quartz.

 

[Double E]

I would have cut the crown in the order A, B, C. I think you went B, C, A.

What are you polishing the quartz with? Quartz can be a pain to polish, I would rather polish 3 sapphires than one quartz.

Yes I did go B C A, as hand remarked on the diagram by my instructor. Their reason is this helps determine the size of table from the beginning. I simply followed but did realise the flow and sequence is different from the original diagram shown.

I used a metal polishing lap with diamond grit applied, I didn’t clarify what material the Lap is made of however.

The polishing process is frustrating, I tried hard to improve a scratch while creating another.

 

[Double E]

I’ve just got some YAG and lab sapphires for upcoming practice.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Yes I did go B C A, as hand remarked on the diagram by my instructor. Their reason is this helps determine the size of table from the beginning. I simply followed but did realise the flow and sequence is different from the original diagram shown.

I used a metal polishing lap with diamond grit applied, I didn’t clarify what material the Lap is made of however.

The polishing process is frustrating, I tried hard to improve a scratch while creating another.

If you are cutting from a diagram, and using the angles on the diagram, the size of the table will be as shown on the diagram. If you are cutting from these diagrams, you really should follow the sequence and this means starting with the pavilion. The pavilion facets will create the girdle outline.

As far as polishing quartz with diamond, this is not really going to work well. You should be using Cerium oxide.

Maybe you can get Gearloose products shipped to:

Product Charts | Gearloose

Made In MA

gearloose.co

 

[Double E]

Hey guys, wonder any online sources, platforms etc. that articles and journals are available talking about gem, lab growns, pricing, gem availability, rarity. & production rates…kind of every facet of gem supply chain?

Like if IGS / Gemsociety is one of them?

 

[Double E]

I start to consider buying a faceting machine so I can cut more conveniently. I know that Ultra Tech looks like the mainstream, although there are still options made elsewhere, like one I know made in Taiwan. How V5 compares to VL? Appreciate experience to share

 

[Winnie The Pooh]

啊 中国人吗。。。

 

[Double E]

Familiarizing with the Gem Cut Studio trying to make some basic designs based on some common shapes.

All are built with RI of sapphire. Saturated blue areas are head shadow, red is windowing. Started with round brilliant, resulting in a version of thin arrows (C), would like to make one with fatter arrows. Yet further revising made it into a round with less head shadow face up. Both are of higher brightness with less window, especially tilt window than the square / cushions.

As for the squarish, one more pointy and one with cut corner, as the pointy one looks tricky to set. The cross contrast is what I tried to retain, but the tilt window is something I want to reduce, that they comes earlier than rounds when tilt.

 

[Karl_K]

Do you watch vintage time on youtube?

https://www.youtube.com/@VintageTimeGems

 

[Double E]

Do you watch vintage time on youtube?

https://www.youtube.com/@VintageTimeGems

Thx Karl. Quite a few useful clips there. Will explore

 

[Double E]

Is it a good idea to ship an unpacked ultra tech? Is it durable enough going through that journey?

 

[PrecisionGem]

Is it a good idea to ship an unpacked ultra tech? Is it durable enough going through that journey?

How would you ship it if it were not packed? You mean not even in a box? No way I would attempt that. If you buy one new from Ultra Tech, their shipping is very secure. They do some of the best packing of anything I have ever seen.

 

[Double E]

How would you ship it if it were not packed? You mean not even in a box? No way I would attempt that. If you buy one new from Ultra Tech, their shipping is very secure. They do some of the best packing of anything I have ever seen.

I found my words really confusing. Gene, I mean if I buy one, unpack and use it for a while. Then I move to another place, that I need to repack it again my self for shipping. I am hesitate for repacking it myself or by the shipping company. I am deciding to buy it now or after moving.

 

[PrecisionGem]

I found my words really confusing. Gene, I mean if I buy one, unpack and use it for a while. Then I move to another place, that I need to repack it again my self for shipping. I am hesitate for repacking it myself or by the shipping company. I am deciding to buy it now or after moving.

Save the shipping box it comes in, you can repack it in the box in the event you move. I am a box saver, I have boxes from all kinds of things I have purchased over the years, including my faceting machines.