It requires great skill to design a beautiful, sparkling diamond that you see in jewelry stores. When found, these stones will be rough, unpolished, and shapeless, and it is the skilled workers, who give the amazing appeal to diamonds.
The main processes that are required to convert a plain, rough diamond to a sparkling and appealing gem include cutting and polishing. By means of the diamond cutting process, professionals will give beautiful shapes to a raw gem; some of the popular diamond shapes include round, oval, rectangular, etc. On the other hand, the diamond polishing process is the final stage where a diamond gets its lustrous appeal.
Diamond Cutting Process
In order to cut a diamond with utmost precision, great skills, essential equipment, and extraordinary patience is necessary. In the diamond cutting process, the shape, the proportion of facets, and the cut quality are the main things that a cutter has to consider. When it comes to cut quality, symmetry and shine play a great role.
A professional starts the process by deciding all the possible shapes for a rough stone so that the wastage is minimum and the yield is maximum. Ideally, this is determined by using computer software these days. Once you feed the exact measurements of rough stones to software, it will show the 3D models of the stone so that the cutter will get an idea on how to optimize it efficiently. After this, he will cut a diamond into separate pieces and then start working on individual pieces. This will make his job easier and he can make use of the rough stone completely as well.
Note that only a diamond can mechanically cut another diamond because of its extreme hardness. Even though lasers are also a good option for cutting diamonds, their application is limited to certain process. Hence, diamond cutters generally use a tool with diamond-bladed edges in order to cut a rough diamond. Sometimes, a cutting disc that is lined in diamond dust is also used as a cutting tool.
Once the gemstones are cut, it is girdled by keeping two diamonds on a spinning axle that turns in opposite direction. Here, the diamonds will grind against each other and form a raw girdle finish. This way, the preferred shape for a diamond is acquired.
The next step is to create facets on a diamond. For this, a rotating arm and spinning wheel are used, which in turn polishes and form reflective facets on a diamond. In case of a diamond with higher number of facets, polishing process is done in two steps, blocking and brillianteering. Finally, an expert will inspect the diamond thoroughly in order to make sure that it meets all the specifications demanded by the manufacturer. If required, he will send back the stone to a polisher in order to do some extra touch up works.