The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-01
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your little finger. els diamond in the rouge.
1t is Just as it was taken from the mines.
with all its flaws and imperfections.
"All OF these must be split of before u
can 60 to the polishers. and 1t is my pusi-
ness to know how to do It. have to split
at the flaws. and to dc that must first cut
a notch to hold my splitting wedge"
Now. nothing but diamond Will cut
diamond he went on, as he picked up
little piece of white stone not bigger than
the head Of pin. so ] take little oia-
mond with a sharp edge like this and fix 1t
in some cement at the end Of this splitting
tool" and he thereupon stuck 1t In some
cement on the end of a stick not unlike the
handle of shoemakers avn He softened
this cement in q gas flame and cooled II
after the stone was fixed by dipping 1t In
some water. AS 1t became cold the cement
hardened and the diamond ives firmly held.
He then fixed the rough diamond into
similar tool and, taking the first diamond,
which lie called his diamond knife, he
scratched with 1t again and again upon the
flaw, making a noise as though sharpening
a gritty slate pencil.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROSE
AND BRILLIANT STONES.
1t was only a moment until he had cut
little notch In the diamond. He then stood
the tool holding the diamond in hole in q
lead plate fastened to the table in front Of
him. He picked up blade Of steel, an inch
wide and about three inches long. He fitted
the blunt edge of this into the flaw and gave
the back of the blade q slight tap with lit
tie steel bar about a foot long. A moment
that the diamond was broken. pointing out
that one of the pieces was fiat and the
other almost round.
This fat stone" said he will be used
to make a rose diamond and the other a
brilliant. All diamonds are cut as rose dia-
1s lxrtll ar,%o r1,- hill Ia~ h,x-
ffty-eght facets and the rose diamonds
twenty-four." -..I
But" said /, ''are the pieces always
largo enough to make Individual stones?"
NO." was the reply. MANY are too
coarse for even rose diamonds Some are
very small, but we keep them all and use
them In various ways. Even the dus. Is
saved. We burn this cement and save
every atom that comes from the diamonds
The diamond dust is employed in polishing
and grinding other diamonds. and some Of
the small pieces are used for glass cutters.
Leaving this room, We go on to see the
polshers They are on the third floor in a
long hail filled with belts and grinding
tools. The room Is walled with windows,
and the men sit with their backs to the
light before long benches over which move
dat wheels Of soft iron at the rate OF 1000
revolutions per minute. Each wheel is as
big around as dinner plate. and it goes so
fast that you cannot tell 1t is moving at
ALL
Fastened to handles like those with which
I saw the diamonds split, four diamonds
rest on each plate. They are set in a
frame SO that they just touch the wheel.
Each diamond is covered with a mixture Of
diamond dust and water, and II is the fric-
ticn Of this upon 1t as it moves around the
plate that grinds It into the many faces or
facets which so much increase its bril-
liancy. The most valuable stones are cut
in this way, and It takes a long time to
transform rough diamond into a brilliant.
During my tour ! asked one of the ex-
perts whether an imitation diamond had
ever been made which could deceive him O.
any one who knew much about diamonds.
He replied that real diamonds are like
nothing else upon earth, and that any one
who understands them can easily detect
the real from the false.
VALUABLE GEMS STRUNG
UPON FINE WIRES d
This man showed me methods in glass of
all the diamonds cut by the factory, in
Guiding some Of the largest OF the world.
He showed me real stones ready for sale
worth thousands of dollars, and among
others several diamonds strung upon wires
as fine as hair. just az though they were
beads
The holes IN these diamonds were made
here in Amsterdam. There Is only one man
upon earth who knows how to do it. His
process b . secret, ana 20 far no one has