Glad to help

I appreciate the kind words

My pleasure

We cut lots of hex stones for our customers! Not usually in emerald though.

Moving to bangkok wasn’t too hard. I got on a plane with a few suitcases and left! The hardest part is getting a job that offers a visa. It took many months and I almost ran out of money and then it happened. As for rough, no unfortunately it’s mostly crap. I still go back to Tucson to get my rough. Most of the good rough that comes to bangkok goes straight to cutting factories or is in such big parcels that we can’t afford to touch it. The thing we got into recently is negotiating over poorly cut but really nice material. There is a lot of opportunities for recutting but not for rough. Plus recutting stones and much much cheaper than rough.

@@JustinKPrim I went to Tuscon for my first time.It was great and fun..I too recut some. Will keep in touch with you.

I always appreciate critiques and I strive to constantly improve my understanding of gems and gem cutting but there is only so much I can do on KZfaq. Of course I can't educate the viewer on every aspect of every subject in a 10 minute video and still have it be concise and entertaining. What you are speaking about is an entire life learning or at least several years. Or maybe the entire filmography of my KZfaq channel. As I mentioned in the video this is only an excerpt of a 4 day class which does attempt to cover many of the topics you speak about. Even in that 4 day class, there are still many things I don't have time to speak about and which I cover in my 2 week cutting course and even after all those days, I still don't have time to cover everything because it takes years and years and practice and experience to understand it all. Even now I am working hard on an emerald cutting course to cover even more material and I have plans on a historical gem cutting course to cover even more. But in the end I am only one man and thanks to covid, I no longer have a support team behind me, so I now write, film, edit, promote, and respond to all of these videos, articles, and photos all by myself and for free. There is only so much time in the day but over the years I will slowly get to all the topics you have mentioned. But to respond to your argument about using emeralds as an example, I could have just as easily used a ruby as my example because the stakes for a ruby are just as high as an emerald where the color name that the lab can make or break your wallet at the end of the day and the different between a pink ruby and a ruby might be the difference between a brilliant cut and a step cut. Thanks for your critiques and I hope that when my time as a teacher, cutter, and video producer is over, I will have been able to cover every topic you mentioned and more.

I may be wrong but I think the series of "covid-friendly" videos does much of what you are suggesting where he goes into the science of things. Furthermore, I don't think Justin was trying to explain all there is to explain about Emerald or had be chosen something else, everything there is to know about that. He's picking a specific scenario with specifically limited variables to illustrate the potential differences of weight, color and value based solely on those defined variables. To go into all of the variables that can and do affect the values of any gemstone would take much longer to illustrate than this short-video series can fairly do. Hence his detailed video series. :)

@@JustinKPrim I agree with you on that, Justin, for several reasons. And I would have to be a fool to argue against the long list of reasons why and situations where the step and mixed cuts can be the ideal options for some materials - especially those with color zones like those found in Emerald or the more diffusely zoned (heated treated) Sapphire. And my heart goes out to you for all of your challenges in this awful pandemic (and salute your Herculean efforts to keep the ball rolling, regardless of it). And as I’ve said, I’ve found literally all of your other videos exceptional! But on this one, I felt/still feel that without a discussion of the presence and location of color zoning and the absolutely crucial role it plays in determining both the face-up appearance and valuation of a finished gem, it’s impossible to determine whether a step or brilliant style of cutting makes sense. Case in point: while at the Tucson Gem Show in 1986, I bought a half dozen large, shallow White Sapphire ovals and octagons that were completely colorless except for some silky blue blobs of color at one end, and had both euhedral and larger silk needle crystals, and some diesel inclusions scattered elsewhere in them. (As you’re an experienced cutter, I already know that you know what I’m describing here.) These were all among a Sri Lankan dealer’s “paper plate specials”, all with step cut pavilions, and all were in the 6-20ct range. Obviously, it’s long enough ago that I don’t have any receipts, but I think they ran me somewhere around $7-8/ct for the entire parcel, which I excitedly brought home and got to work on. After recutting them, into brilliant cuts (rounds, ovals and cushions), I had no problem getting between $400-700/ct for them, wholesale, but that was only possible because I had strategically placed those “blobs” of saturated color where those brilliant mains and breaks would reflect light through them and redirect that color throughout the gems and then back up to the eyes of the jewelers who were my customers. In all honesty, I doubt I’d have been paid even 1/4 as much if I had used step cuts on those. Ditto with the Amethysts from Pão D’Arco, Brazil and Four Peaks, AZ, that I’d bought on that trip, and those I’ve since bought from Nigeria - all of which have featured supersaturated “radiation symbol” color zones interspersed with areas of colorlessness, which seem to face up best with brilliant style cuts. The main exception to this rule, IMHO, are bicolored materials like Ametrine, Tourmaline, unheated Zircons and the blue/tan Topazes from Pike’s Peak, CO, in which cases the intentional non-blending of the colors make step cuts the only game in town. Wouldn’t you agree?

@@DouglasTuret yes I don’t disagree with you at all. Understanding color zoning is essential for a cutter but in my opinion is better left for another video. In these hypothetical models there isn’t color zoning and in the emeralds that I’ve cut color zone was much less of an issue that let’s say managing windows vs yield, managing inclusions, or maybe most importantly controlling the c axis color. There are an infinite number of ways this video can go. Of course I didn’t mention the 100% blending of A/B axis colors with the C axis color in brilliants and your ability to control that blending in a step cut. What you’re speaking of, bluff stones as we call them, are also an interesting subject that are worthy of a video on their on and are definitely covered in my class. I also think you can put the color zone in the culet and reflect it up with a step cut bottom. Thai cutters are infamous for this in blue sapphires. There are lots of tricks and I’m not saying anyone is right or wrong but only that this video represents one small sliver of what we need to know as cutters and I hope to be able to keep offering more slices until the entire pie is fully revealed. Thanks for the discussion !

@@JustinKPrimI believe you have done a great job with the video, i think people are getting confused with what it was supposed to be. It's clear that you are talking about and ideal situation, with little to no other variables. I think videos like these would be very helpful for a new cutter, providing that this became a series. Where you are able to talk about some of the variables that would have an impact on faceting the stone, and what would be the best solution when they arose. Although i have a sneaky suspicion that the remaining content is in the course, certainly not a bad thing. One last thing, you can 100% put a colour zone in the culet of a step cut to reflect it up, it can sometimes be a bit directional though but it certainly can be done. Hope you are doing well Justin, I wish you all the best for 2021.

No darkness comes from no light reflecting in certain parts of the stone. Either the light reflects out the side our gets reflected over and over inside the stone and never makes it out.

It depends on how it’s done. If it’s too round it creates a window but there is a sweet spot to where it increases saturation with taking anything away from the beauty.

Yes. Lab grown emeralds have the same optical properties as natural emeralds.

Hi Steve. I recognize that you are extremely knowledgeable and I’ve often enjoyed your experienced comments on various forums but in this case I have to respectfully disagree with you on nomenclature. I agree that technically there is a family of brilliant style cuts and I definitely talk about this and define this in my classes but for the general jewelry buying audience (and in the cutting factories I work with) when you say brilliant cut it means the classic diamond cut. 2 tiers on the bottom with a row of mains and a row of breaks. As you said, it’s a complicated and nuanced subject and I wouldn’t further complicate it by bringing the Portuguese cut into this discussion. Another video about Portuguese cut vs brilliant cut would be interesting in the future as the optics of the two are completely different in my experience and are useful in completely different ways. In hobbyist circles and in the jewelry world, I see many people utilizing the “traditional brilliant cut” and this is the classic layout of this cut so I used it as the basis of this conversation. I believe there is a difference between “brilliant cut” and “brilliant style” and you will notice that I intentionally didn’t say brilliant style at all in this video. The complexity of this issue is fully discussed in my Science of Gemcutting course but is too lengthy for anything but an excerpt for KZfaq. Thanks for you well written comments. As always I strive to be accurate and educational and I will try to be more precise and in-depth in my future video endeavors.

@@JustinKPrim Below is the quoted definition of the terms brilliant, step, and mixed as defined by G.I.A. in their G.G. courseware. "Almost all faceted gems are variations on one of the three main cut styles: brilliant cut, step cut, and mixed cut. A brilliant cut has triangular or kite-shaped facets that radiate out toward the girdle. A step cut has mainly square and rectangular facets arranged in concentric rows. A mixed cut combines the two styles in the same stone." As you can see it is fully aligned with my position. Your example used the Standard Round Brilliant Cut proportions as developed for the Diamond Industry. The difference in yields in your example is defined by proportion, not cutting style, or pattern as I pointed out. A brief mention of this distinction in your video would sort the issue out. Steve

@@1bwana120 I don't disagree. Again they are talking about "brilliant cut styles" not the brilliant cut. The stone I used in my example is a classic 57 facet brilliant cut with its proportions adjusted for the RI of emeralds. I don't think this is a wrong way to approach it because many people cut round brilliants all the time and it is a very popular cutting style in the colored gem trade. I can find hundreds of stones cut as Brilliant cuts in the gem markets of Bangkok as well as in the millions of stones we find in Tucson. We can also find step cut, mixed cut, Portuguese cut, emerald cut, and variations and mixtures of all of the above. I completely cover this in my course. We look at the 25 classic cut styles that the industry uses over and over and I do plan on making a video talking about this 25 stone sample set that I made but for this video I wanted to keep it simple yet still 21st century accurate. Despite advances in modern cutting theory much of the industry is still cutting like it's 1899 and much of the hobby community prizes sparkle over color despite color differences and price differences that the two cuts can bring. This was my underlying point with the video. When I calculated the numbers I was so impressed I wanted to share it further than my full class was going to reach. Again I appreciate your perspective and insight and I think that cutters around the world should continue to debate about the benefits of different cuts because it make us wiser and better, more well rounded cutters.

@@JustinKPrim So, what if we took your exact faceting pattern from the "Brilliant Cut" and changed the angles to 50 degrees on the breaks, and 45 degrees on the mains. This would deepen, the stone resulting in more weight, and also darken the color. Still, your calculations would now be way off. But the cut would still be what you are calling a "Brilliant Cut". Only the proportions would have changed. I agree that you can buy any species of stone cut with the pattern and proportions in your example. Mostly this style is reserved for small and/or calibrated stones. But if the rough allows you can find larger stones as well. They are cut this way in order to more closely match the facet patterns and mounting construction of diamond melee. These are more correctly called "Round Diamond Cut" in the trade. The Round Diamond Cut description implies both both facet pattern and proportions. Colored stones cut this way are often more expensive per carat because of the weight loss associated with this proportions of cutting. Here are examples: gemorex.com/products/emerald-round-melee-diamond-cut-multiple-sizes www.nafcogems.com/details/195 www.gemselect.com/other-gems/diamond-cut-gemstones.php Here is a link to the Gem Society description of cutting styles. Note that their "Brilliant Cut" description is in alignment with mine and GIAs. In their diagram they take care to explicitly call out that it is a Brilliant Cut using Diamond Proportions. www.gemsociety.org/article/gem-cutting-terms/#Brilliant_Cut Just because some dealers refer to Diamond Cut Round Brilliants by the shorter term Brilliant Cut does not make the nomenclature correct. There are lots of examples of sloppy nomenclature in our business. I agree with you on the hobby cutters mistake of cutting for brilliance rather that compromises that maximize color. The job of a cutter is to maximize the value of a gemstone. GIA is currently working on a colored stone grading system similar in concept to their diamond system. One of the great differences is that in Diamonds cut is a huge component of grading value. In colored stones color is the primary component of value. Cut is a minor component. Here is a link to an article by GIA discussing just these issues. You will note that cut only makes up 10% of a gemstones value, while color makes up 60%. This in no way diminishes the cutter's contribution to value. The cutter has huge influence on the color of a gem and therefore value. In fact the cutter contributes to 85% of the factors that are used to determine value. The only one he cannot influence is location. This is research you should share with your students. The report is in 5 parts. Here is a link to part 1: www.gia.edu/gia-news-research/value-factors-design-cut-quality-colored-gemstone-value-factors You will notice that in this research report no where is "Brilliant Cut" used to imply proportion, only facet shape and style. It is also consistent with my view on this subject. I do respect what you are trying to do. As an educational institution I think it is in the best interest of your business and your students to uphold the highest standards when it comes to the use of terminology and descriptors. Steve

@@1bwana120 thanks Steve. I haven’t seen the report and I’ll check it out. I also didn’t know that GIA was working on a colored stone cut grade system. That will be interesting to see when it’s revealed. As for “round diamond cut” I agree this is a better term and many people I work with use this term though “brilliant cut” is thrown around quite a bit. However in American hobbyist circles the brilliant cut title is used I thin even more and that was the Audience I was imagining would watch this video. Again thank you for your insights and the links. I’m always trying to give my students as much as I can so I’m always happy to add more to my knowledge bank. Thanks.

Thank you!

No it’s pretty quiet. There is one slightly loud step which is the initial preforming grinding but it usually doesn’t take too long and it’s not that loud. I’ve faceted in many apartments and bedrooms with no problem. It’s fairly self contained too so you don’t have to worry about Getting your apartment too messy.

As long as you don't use a ceramic lap. They squeal very loudly. Sort of an inside joke for faceters. Most folks don't use ceramics with some of the new 21st Century laps.

We used to before covid but now we’ve moved to mostly online classes. However we do have a class scheduled in June and July in montreal. Details here: www.ecoledegemmologie.com/en/product-category/specialist-courses/gem-cutting-foundations/

The step cut will only show through if it’s cut with bad angles, which is many of the commercial cut stones we find on the market. A well cut step cut is a beauty to behold.

@@JustinKPrim I am seen all your videos about cutting stones I have to star cutting calibre stone for artdeco emeralds sapphire Onix and Rubi wish me luck 😃 oh! I am building my own faceting machine