The challenges in cutting rutilated quartz lie in maintaining the interest and integrity of the crystal, while at the same time exhibiting the rutile in the best way. I have cut hundreds of pieces of rutilated quartz, from thumbnail size to an 800-pound crystal, and I have found two things to be consistently true. Don't approach any two pieces the same way, and in executing each piece, realize that the challenge is greater with rutilated quartz than with almost any other material. Like a surgeon, you must cut into the body of the quartz, and isolate the rutile without harming the vital elements of the pattern. After that, you should leave enough of the transparent quartz around the rutile to allow the outer shape to be pleasing while bringing attention to the rutile inside.
Needles come in many forms and colors.
In addition to rutile, there are other interesting needles that occur in quartz, such as tourmaline and epidote, which pose similar challenges and rewards. There is wispy, hair-like rutile, thick golden rods of rutile, straight green or black tourmaline, long, thick bamboolike epidote crystals, beautiful blue actinolite and riebeckite, as well as the popular gold rutile. In my opinion, the easiest stones to cut are those in which the crystal, in its natural, six-sided and terminated shape, can exhibit the visual delight of the internal rutile without the cutter having to do much more than polishing a face or two. First, find nice material. If you don't start with a good piece of rutilated quartz, you will end up reaching for other types of rough next time around.