Cutting Gemstones

We chose stones as jewellery gemstones not only because they are beautiful but also because they are hard wearing and will last a long long time.

However cutting such hard wearing materials is difficult. In fact to cut stones we usually use other stones. Diamonds are the world's hardest stones so these get used to cut other stones.

The usual way we cut stones is with a circular saw edged with diamond dust. As it spins against the gemstone being cut, the diamond doesn't slice the gem in two like a blade, but actually grinds away thin groove into the stone. If you magnified a picture of a diamond cutting saw in action it would look like this.

 

There are a million ways to cut a gemstone, but some are more effective at making the light bounce around inside, allowing the gem to sparkle.

The shapes above are some of the most popular cuts for gemstones.