Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1886-11-12
DIAMOND-CUTTING.
How This Particular Work Ii Done 10 tn
Western Metropolis.

DIAMOND-CUTTiNG.
How This Particular Work Is Done 10 the
Western Metropolis.
A reporter saw yesterday a practical
Illustration of the old adsge of "dia-
nond cut diamond" A jewelry house
on State street, near Washington, pol
ishes and recuts more diamonds than
apt other house in the West. The dia-
mond mechanic said Yesterday
"Wo cut few diamonds in the rough;
that is, few in proportion to the number
of old diamonds we recut and polish.
Whye Oh, the work is very much more
expensive. and it is cheaper to import
them already polished and pay the duty
on them. The finest workmanship is
done in Amsterdam. Labor is very
cheap there, and the polishers are very
skillful. People talk Of cutting dia-
monds, but what we call cutting is the
action of rubbing two diamonds against
each other. We put on pair of buck
skin gloves and take two sticks in the
melted rosin. The two stones are
small box which catches the dust as it
falls. The diamond has few natural
facets, as we call the triangular divi-
sions of the diamond. A perfectly cut
diamond has fifty-eight facets, and we
lay the basis of these by our action in
rubbing the stones together over this
box. The dust thus obtained is used for
polishing. But the quantity would be
entirely Inadequate because of the new
stones we cut. We accordingly buy
large quantities of bortz or imperfectly
formed diamonds in which the
capitalization has serious defects. This
we place in metal churn, the cover OF
which allows the piston to move freely,
but which prevents dust from escaping,
and we pound the bortz to powder. Out
of this powder, and that obtained by
scraping, we construct paste by adding
forty drops of olive oil to each carat OF
dust. This paste is spread in circle
around the center of these" and the
cutter pointed to two iron disks which
were revolving in horizontal manner
from left to right above his table. They
are moved by steam, and make $500
revolutions per minute. The ncxt thing
we do is this" and the speaker loosened
the diamond from the rosin and pro-
ceeded TO insert it in a ball, the lower
part of which was brass, but the up
per part lead. This ball he placed over
gas-jet till the lead softened. With
pair of pincers he inserted the
diamond in the lead with the
proper side uppermost, and smoothed
the soft lead about it till all the stone
was securely hidden save the facet he
desired to polish. When the lead had
hardened the ball was inserted in a sort
OF arm and fastened to the polishing
machine in such a manner that the
stone was held firmly upon the iron
disk. The latter was revolving so fast
that it seemed to be standing still. The
paste he spoke of appeared to
the reporter to be nothing
more than black machine oil.
When touched with the finger it left g
smear such as dirty grease would have
done. Every time a facet is finished the
lead has to be melted, the stone taken
out and turned around so that another
angle shows, the lead made to. harden
about it again and the diamond placed
in the polishing machine once more.
This process is therefore gone through
THE time it takes to polish facet de-
ponds on the hardness of the stone" re-
sumed the operator. "Some stones are
soft and others harder than can be i'm
agined. Under ordinary circumstance
polisher with boy to mel
his lead can polish one hun
bred facets day. Then, again
he may be days on one facet
In cutting diamond from the rough
from one-quarter to third of the orig
inal bulk disappears. Sometimes one
little flaw no bigger than a pin-hea'
has been known to keep stone on thu
machine for weeks ut time. One ston,
was brought to me with flaw in it tina
took me three weeks to remove. Whei
finished the stone was nearly polished
10 nothing-but took the flaw out.
heard of one stone that took four year
Of constant polishing in order to per
feet one facet. Every little while W,
have to adjust this arm so that it viii
hold the stone nearer the outer edge y
the disk. as the dust keeps moving
toward the rim. About every tire,
months the disks have to be taken ou
and planned over to smooth out tn,
scratches. 1t takes about five years TO
an apprentice to become proficien
enough to be trusted with stones to pol
ish, and to be an adept at it require
good judgment, good eye for distanc
and well-balanced ideas of symmetry
A sectional view of diamond is some
thing like this: