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How Is A Diamond Cut And Polished?
Home » Jewelry » How Are Diamonds Formed? » How Is A Diamond Cut And Polished?The history of diamond cutting and polishing has its origins in India, where it was discovered a long time ago by Indian lapidaries that a diamond could be made to glisten simply by grinding another diamond against it. Over time modern machinery has replaced traditional diamond cutting tools.
Diamond cutting and polishing requires anywhere from several hours to several months to complete. During this process, a diamond will lose on average half of its original weight.
As every diamond is different, a stone must first be carefully examined by the cutter and marked for cutting. Of all the cuts, the most popular is the round brilliant because of its ability to give a stone the greatest possible brilliance and fire with the most minimal amount of weight loss.
The rough diamond is divided into two parts by sawing or cleaving. Most stones are sawn across the grain by a paper-thin metal disc coated with diamond dust revolving at high speed or by laser. The stones that are marked for cleaving are split along the grain by a single blow from a steel blade.
After cleaving or sawing, the corners of the diamond are rounded off by a process known as bruting or girding. The stone is cemented into a lathe, which is a holder that fits on a turning shaft. Another diamond is cemented to the end of a long rod held under the bruter’s arm. As the lathe rotates, the two diamonds are brought together and grinded to shape. Diamond dust is produced from this action and is used in further sawing and faceting.
The brilliant now has a girdle, like a rim at the widest part by which it is usually set. The size or position of the girdle should not change throughout the rest of the diamond cutting process.
The polishing of the diamond begins when the facets are ground on to the stone. A facet is the tiny plane or surface that traps the light and makes a diamond sparkle. Most diamond cuts have 58 facets.
The facets are applied to the diamond on a porous iron turntable, which has been coated with diamond dust and oil. The diamond is set into a holder and held against the turntable as it revolves at a very high speed.
A diamond has been cut well when its facets are clean, sharp, and symmetrical and the proportions above and below the girdle are correct. A diamond is correctly proportioned when one-third of the total weight of the gem is above and two-thirds below. A well-cut diamond will be fiery, brilliant and beautiful.
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