The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-01-12
Diamond Cutting.

diamonds are valued in this coun-
try almost purely according to their de-
gree of brilliancy. We've sold carat
stones here as high as $500, while other
carat stones may be bought for so.
We claim that the American method Of
cutting diamonds enhances the value Of
The stone, on the average, by twenty
nve per cent. The tools used in our
business are the diamond cleaver, used
In chipping of this or that edge of the
rough stone, useless for its ultimste
shape; the cutting stick, the cutting
box, the diamond reducer, the gauge
Tor measuring diamonds, a very exsct
instrument; the revolving disk, the set
ting bench, the hand-clamp, the
!, tweezers, the block, files, screws, etc"
"And how about the method of cut
tingP" was asked.
Tine first operation is to put two
rough stones on the cutting sticks, inn
bedded in cement, and place them over
the opening of the cutting box That
Is, as you see, mahogany box, silver
faced, eight and one-half by three
inches, with an opening having fine
sieve on the bottom. The two diamonds
are rubbed against each other bv hand,
so as to gradually cut smooth surfaces
into each other. Diamond cuts dia-
mond' is an old saying, and, in fact,
nothing but diamond will do the cut
ting. In shaping the rough diamonds
In this way very much depends upon
nice Judgment on the part of the
workman in determining on the number
OF facets, their length and breadth, and
the best manner of cutting the stone SO
as to give the greatest possible bril-
\ liancy and not to spoil the reflection,
thing which is very easily done. The
superiority of American diamonds re-
suits entirely from the exact workman
ship and the clever management of the
facets. To accomplish this our excel
lent tools are necessary. When l
mention that the benches are firmly
fastened to the floor in rectangular
position, that they are of solid iron,
and that our revolving disks are SO per-
fectly adjusted as to cut to the one
thousandth of an inch, you will get an
idea Of what ] mean.
''Now, in shaping the rough stone it
Is often advisable to cut off piece, be-
cause 1t makes the stone irregular in
shape and is useless. In that case an
aperture is sawed into the diamond, and
then, by inserting very sharp steel
Stool, the superfiuous piece is chopped
of. Next the stone, having had its
edges roughly ground, is put on the set
ting bench or sFeststeller,' as the tech
meal Dutch name is, and then it is
placed on top of ball of pure tin solder,
held in the hollow of q 'Dupp.' This
solder is heated over spirit burner till
it is soft enough to be perfectly pliable.
With the tweezers this soft tin is shaped
firmly around the diamond. so that it
will not shake in the least, because if it
did in the slightest degree the stone
would be irretrievably spoiled. Next it
Is put into the hand-clamp and held
down to the revolving disk, which moves
with a speed of $500 revolutions per
minute. With all this speed some dia-
monds are so hard that they have to be
ground for one entire month to get the
facets they are to have. There is a
bracket holder to press down the dia-
mond to the flying steel disk. which
again is impregnated with diamond
dust. mixed with oil. This we get from
the mines--that is, the bits of diamond.
The dust is made in the reducer. As
YOU see, steel mortar of cylindrical
shape, closing air tight around the pes
tie, so that the latter moves up and
down in the opening horizontally, and
none Of the dust is lost. When ground
to powder it is mixed with oil and APP
piled on the surface of the revolving
disk. It's the most perfect mechanism
extant which we introduced here. 1t is
the exceedingly great speed with which
the disk turns that grinds the diamond.
OF course, the greatest possible atten
ton, trained hand and eye and q firm
touch are required besides all these in.
I. Instruments and our gauge for measuring
1.-The width of the facets, so as to cut q
diamond perfectly.
"Here is finished stone," continued
the informant, exhibiting diamond
Of beautiful fire and having seventy
five facets in all. THAT is worth about
400. It is only about q carat in
weight, but what work there was tc
that! 1t took four weeks to cut it
That's all the secret there Is to .
beautiful diamond-the cutting. VIZ
rot two beautiful large diamonds from
New York, but a slight mistake had
been made in grinding their facets, Sc
that the light in them was too mucf
broken up, and there was but little fir
in them. We couldn't sell them and
they lay six years in the drawer: Now
since we began cutting ourselves W.
had them recut, and they have sole
readily at much higherprice than W,
asked for them before, though materi
Ally lessened in size. How do we ge
our diamonds. We buy them rough il
hesps and pay about fifty or sixty dol
lars per carat for them. After thu
cutting they have lost about one-hal
in weight, and there may be some worth
but fifty dollars a carat, while other
are worth $3.50 per carat Thu
greatest diamond expert cannot tel
beforehand how . lot Of rough
stones may turn out when cut
It's therefore . matter Of speculation
and spectators do the buying of thu
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