Cutting Diamonds
A diamond in the rough is not
a beautiful stone. It must be skillfully
cut and polished to become beautiful.
In their most natural form, diamonds are well quite
ugly. They have no luster or shine, and in fact, look like nothing
more than broken glass. A diamond must be cut, and then polished
before it actually becomes a thing of beauty.
Diamonds are cut with saws, into round shapes. From the rounded
shape, other shapes may be cut, such as heart shapes but
the shape is less important than the quality of the cutting that
is being done. If the diamond is poorly cut, it will lose light,
and it will not sparkle and shine very well. Each facet of the diamond
must be carefully cut into the geometrical shapes that allow the
diamond to sparkle and shine, then the entire diamond is cut into
a specific shape, such as an emerald cut or a princess cut diamond.
Once the cut is done, the diamond is put into a dop, which resembles
a cup with another diamond only a diamond is strong enough
to smooth the edges of another diamond. Once the diamond has been
cut and shaped, and had the edges smoothed in the dop, it is polished
on a scaif or a diamond polishing wheel.
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