Yes, the more you learn about the processes, the more fun it is to own some gemstones.

I am sorry, but I am not familiar with Asin. I'll see if I can find anything out from my fellow cutters.

You are very welcome.

Are you sure that it is 'curved' enough to make a heart without loosing a lot of rough? I haven't cut a heart shaped stone in a while, I guess it's about time to cut some. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thank you paul

I tried to search for a 'double flowers' design, but I can't find one, so I appologize, but I'm not sure what you are saying.??

lol...I was wondering if anyone would notice the reference. Good job!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thanks. I haven't cut a Star Sapphire before...mostly because that's more in the line of those who have the talent to cab.

Thanks Brad. I looked up that design and the length/width fits nicely with my blob. That may very well be the design I use, thanks again!

Thank you!

That's a good idea!

I will put that on the list. Thanks.

You are right, I have not yet used that copper lap...I will say it is a beautiful lap!!!! What is the finest grit of diamond you have used to polish corundum using your copper lap?

Hi. Do you do any special cutting with the chatham rough? I'm looking for a nice elongated oval ruby

@@TJ-kg5bv Hi there. I don't do any cutting of the rough inasmuch as the uncut crystals are absolutely spectacular, far, far more beautiful than even the best mined ruby crystals.

@@Indrid__Cold hi thank u for your response. I own a chatham sapphire 12 by 10. I agree its beautiful. I am just in the market for a more elongated silhouette for an oval than the shorter ratios that Chatham offers. But I want it to still be chatham ruby.

I don't have a preference between the types of lab created emerald. The hydrothermal costs more, but I can get thicker slabs than by buying a 1/2 boule.

If you pm me on facebook, I will be glad to assist you.

Thanks Jason. I will cut an 'eye' design eventually. There are many designs out there, if you have a favorite, just let me know.

What's your favorite design in Ruby?

I have raw ruby and want cutting. Can you help. I can send photos

I know many cutters who polish corundum to a 14K level. The best way to get a great polish, is to start with a great prepolish. So if you are ending up with 'scratches' or grooves with your 14K on a Batt, maybe need to work on your technique for prepolishing or polishing. Maybe your rpm's are too high maybe you have too much diamond on your lap...it could be many factors, but I can't tell from just texting you.

@@BOPIESDiamondsFineJewelry this helps a lot, thank you

I use the Diasticks by Gearloose and love them. I am not an expert on powder or paste, but I would think that they both will work fine...but there are different 'qualities' of diamond, so they both will work fine assuming they both have quality diamonds in them.

Sorry, but I don't want to get into discussions on pricing, profit, loss, time spent cutting, cost of rough, etc. I am happy to provide videos showing you how to cut gemstones....for the rest, you will have to discuss with others.

Not sure. Doorknob size is the largest I have done...I suspect Cantaloupe size would be possible. The limiting factor is the the 8 inch lap. I'm not really interested in spending the extra time to cut an excessively large stone which could not be used in jewelry.

Thank you!!

I use a trim saw made by Ameritool and a scintered blade. Many other cutters report success with just a basic tile trim saw from a hardware store and a scintered blade (not a tile blade which is wider and you will lose more rough).

@@BOPIESDiamondsFineJewelry thank you!!! Ill try that!

Interesting. Thanks.

My wife, Bopie, runs the jewelry store "Bopie's Diamonds and Fine Jewelry". She sells jewelry. I don't sell my stones...they all go to Bopie...for free 🙂 I have cut natural Yellow Sapphire, but I don't recall cutting anything that large in natural Sapphire, but you can contact my wife and discuss it.

As a very general rule, a cutter can expect 20-25% return from a piece of rough...but it varies widely depending on the design and the shape of the rough.

For natural color change Sapphire (corundum), I picked up a piece a while back, but not from Joe. I made a video on cutting it. For lab created, no, I don't have any color change rough. I suspect color change lab created corundum is not hard to find. One word of caution on the 'blue' lab created corundum 1/2 boules, including most color change...the color is only in the 'rind'...so the trick is to orient the rough to get the color to flow through the stone. Although there is some disagreement between cutters (as with virtually all things related to gem cutting), my experience is to cut the stone so the color is in the culet...that will flood the stone with color. Again, there are other super talented cutters who disagree...so I will just say it's my experience and my opinion, and leave it at that.

@@mikesackos2208 I had no idea about that issue. Good to know, thank you!

I use the Ultra Tec V5. However, I understand the Facetron and GemMaster II or III are also excellent machines. I just haven't used them.

Hi Daniel. You are referencing 'performance via luster', in your comment in trying to define 'best performance'. There are countless ways to define performance, and I try to explain that in the video. When I was talking about performance here, for me cutting this specific gemstone, I was defining performance very specifically as "ISO brightness in the face up position". I fully understand many gem cutters will have a different view of 'best performance', and that is perfectly fine with me. So, for me, what I look for in a cut gemstone is the sparkle or brilliance as I look down at the stone in the face up position...and I use GCS to predict that performance. If you have another method, great!!! For performance, some cutters may strive for some minimal amount of windowing. Some other cutters may look at ISO brightness over an entire 30% tilt range through both the X and Y, they may have some formula for a weighted average that they think is optimal....GREAT! I am not saying any definition of 'best performance' is wrong. Again, in the video, I explain how I personally am defining 'best performance'. I am not saying you have to agree...in fact the world of cutting is much more fun when there are many opinions on a topic.

@@mikesackos2208 thank you for giving your opinion on this matter I just love faceting no one can beat it from lab created rough to natural gemstones rough and how expensive it can get and what risks your taking the thrills and spills of faceting thank you for your opinion hail to you fellow faceting human being.

Lab created Corundum is a bit unique. The boule (a full round boule) is under pressure, so for Corundum, the boule must be split in half. That is why whenever you see lab created Corundum (ruby or sapphire) for sale, it is a 'split' boule. I am no expert, but I suspect that the fractures (or what you are calling concordial fractures) are created when the boule is split and are unique to Lab created corundum and not natural corundum or lab created material. Again, that's just my thinking...please let me know if I am wrong.

What is it you would like me to explain? I guess that I would say, first off, the flame fusion method of creating corundum (Ruby and Sapphire) is relatively inexpensive. The hydro-thermal method is relatively expensive. Secondly, I would say that there are people in the world cutting gemstones all day, every day, for very low wages. They use basic equipment and don't worry about perfect meet points or polish. In my opinion, you get what you pay for. Does that help?

Sorry to inform you - that $10 "stone" off eBay (ALL of which are from India, btw)... glass. Also, if craftsmanship doesn't matter to you, why did you even watch this video? As far as your ability to adequately perform gemological testing... I prefer to rely on winning the lotto.

@@timmsmiithgm557 I'm a mineralogist technician and an analytical chemistry technician as well. I've exposed my cheap Ebay ruby to UV light and they emit red fluorescence. They have no problem to mark glass and quartz. So, I can confirm that theses are not glass, they are ruby 100% sure. I do have other Ebay sample that are glass, but all the red ones I've got are ruby. I'm juste fascinated (not positive) how cheap it can be. How someone can send a faceted lab grown ruby for 1-10$ ??? It is so sad for the low paid workers, isn't? I don't know if I'm part of the problem or not since I've bought it?

@@alexandrevaliquette1941 VERY likely the pieces going for $1 were stolen - since they have no skin in the game, they are only motivated by making a quick buck or two.

I made a big gemstone by starting with a bigger piece of uncut gemstone rough. 🙂

Thank you...I'll try.

Great. Thanks! Please do share.