The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1921-01-10
TAKES SKILL TO
CUT DIAMONDS
Methods Of Turning the Rough
Stones Into Briiliants Ex.
planned by Expert.
WORLD WAR PUT PRICES UP
But They Are Being Bought and Dis
played In This Country More Than
Ever Before-very Few Are
Perfect.

New York.-Diamonds as coveted
gems and ornaments have lost none of
their popularity. Since the late war
many persons who never possessed
these brilliants are wearing them to-
day, even though they cost more than
formerly. Few persons realize the
skill it takes to cut and polish dia-
monds for the market.
Diamonds as they are found in the
rough state" Herbert P. Whitlock,
curator Of the department of mineral
ogy at the Museum of Natural His
tory, said, "are not impressive. They
have none Of the magical flashes Of
light which in the polished stone
makes them unique among the noble
family of gems. And it is here that
a goodly part of the price of diamonds
Is accumulated. For the art Of turn
ing rough diamond into a polished
brilliant is long process requiring
superlative degree of skill. There is
no better way to appreciate this than
to follow the diamond from the mine
to the jeweler and see for ourselves
just what happens to 1t.
''When the diamonds are recovered
from the mine they are not by any
means all of them clear and colorless,
as self-respecting diamond should
be; indeed, only about rs per cent Of
the stones found are without some
faint color.
$50 we find that at the beginning
Of it's travels the diamond is intro
duced to the sorter. The sorter is a
kind Of super-expert on diamonds,
whose eye has been trained through
years Of practice to detect the slight,
est variations In color of diamonds
and to find flaws in the stones with
an ease which is little less than I'M
canny.
Sorting the Diamonds. :.
"The first consideration in sorting
diamonds is the adaptability Of the
stone for cutting. Let us assume that
the stone whose travels we are fol-
lowing is sorted into the grade known
as close goods, comprising flawless
crystals from which fair-sfzed bril-
liants can be cut. or, to use the trade
term, made These usually have
eight sides or facets triangular in
shape. Next comes re-sorting Of
the close goods into eight grades.
ranging from blue white. which COM
prises the finest quality stones, to yell
low and brown, which are so badly
off color as to be unfit for gems.
IF our stone has passed the criti-
cal test Of the sorter and is placed
in one Of the higher grades, it is
weighed, wrapped up in parcel with
others Of it's kind, price per carat
is assigned to it and it is sold to
diamond dealer and ultimately finds
it's way to the workshop of the dia-
mond polisher. Here at the hands Of
a highly skilled workman it Is des-
tined to be turned into a gem fit to
grace beauty or opulence.
"Most of this is done in Holland,
and especially in Amsterdam, which,
since the Fifteenth century, has been
famous for this industry.
"The surface Irregularities, together
with any superficial flaws. are first
split away from the stone. :.
Sometimes when the stone is large
it is of advantage to saw it into two
or more pieces so as to save as much
as possible of the weight in cut dia-
monds
"Sruitine" the Stones.
1.-THE rough shaping of the diamond
is done through an operation called
'bruiting.' which consists of wearing
away tie corners by rubbing one stone
against another. This was formerly a
manual process, the two diamonds be-
ing mounted on sticks held in either
hand by the lapidary. But even in
the ancient and conservative art Of
diamond cutting some mechanical i'm
provements have .crept III, and now in
most of the shops a rapidly turning
spindle takes the place of one of the
hand sticks.
Having rOugh-Shaped our diamond,
we now come to the finishing opera
ton, the producing Of the facets which
give brilliancy and sparkle to it and
which is technically known as pol
ishing. The holder of the stone dur
ing the polishing consists of small
metal cup on long stem which is
called dop, and much resembles a
tulip. A solder composed Of one part
tin and three parts lead is placed in
the dop and heated until soft. The
diamond is then imbedded in the sol
er with a portion of the stone On which
the desired facet Is to be cut placed
uppermest and almost completely sur
rounded by the solder.
"The dop is now fastened by means
Of It's stem in heavy iron arm called
The tongs, in such position as to
bring the position of the facet to be
cut exactly undermost when 1t Is
placed In contact with the polishing
Wheel or lap. The latter is made OF
loft iron and turns at the rate OF
,bbut 1000 revolutions minute. Sew
raj hours are required to cut one