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Diamonds will always be the protagonist of every movie – and in every movie, diamonds and engagement rings are fit for all types of genres. This is why centuries later (until this very moment), it is considered such a timeless piece. However, timeless do not usually birth themselves into perfection like what we are used to seeing.
Diamonds are not always that sharp and chiseled like what we always admire in advertisements, television, posters, and shop displays; rather diamonds are cut into these magnificent shapes and sizes to be called its never-ending title of timeless.
Much like other treasured pieces, diamonds are sectioned into 4 categories – one of which is the Cut. If you happen to belong to the population of entities who are curious about how it is done, here are some details about this mystery.
Diamonds are for Diamonds
Similar to popular belief, yes – diamonds can only be cut with diamonds alone. This is because looking at the Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness, diamonds bear the highest number of 10, making it the hardest of them all. Therefore, the equipment used to cut diamonds are diamonds itself. In most cases, jewelers use diamond blades on the edges or put diamond dust on the tip of their cutting tools.
Initially, the head cutter would have to look and evaluate the diamonds for their carat weight. This is to distinguish what type of shape would it be cut into – a step cut or a brilliant cut. Most of the perfectly shining diamonds in the market have a brilliant cut, while a step-cut gives out the feeling of a clearer crystal diamond.
The Diamond Cutting Process
While diamond cutting, in general, can be a bit comprehensive, experts narrow it down into five steps.
Planning
Similar to what is stated above, the head diamond cutter usually evaluates first what kind of shape or size fits the mined diamond. This is usually done with a virtual blueprint and computer software to trace the newly mined, rough diamonds and make it clearer to see the bigger picture of what it would look like once cut.
Not only does the shape, size, and details are put into consideration, but also (most importantly) not sacrificing too much diamond during the whole process. This is to give the best possible quality of the diamond with the hint of elegance courtesy of its cut.
Cleaving
This process is basically synonymous with splitting, wherein the diamond cutter splits the diamond into separate pieces. This is where hard tools are used such as lasers and mechanical saws – to be able to flawlessly cut the diamond into its optimal shape.
Bruting
Bruting can be similar to molding clay and turning it into a pot. This process takes the separated pieces of rough diamonds and turns them into round stones through a spinning axle (much like molding clay, but make it fancy) and grinding them onto each other to achieve a rough finish.
Many people might be wondering why diamonds need to be roughened, this is simply to prepare the stone itself for the last step and ensure that all surfaces and crevices were not neglected.
Polishing
In this second to the last step, the roughened diamonds are polished into smooth and reflective stones that everyone can now admire and be familiar with. During this process, all of the details that are needed to incorporate within the diamond are added, such as creating facets and crowns as a head-start for brillianteering.
In brillianteering, the last step of polishing a diamond into its metamorphic form, remaining facets are added, together with deciding of what brilliance and fire the diamond should have.
Inspection
Lastly, in order for a diamond to be flawless, one must be inspected for flaws. In this step, the diamond is checked if its specifications are correctly matched; if correct, it is now ready to be in front of shop displays – and eventually on someone’s wrist or finger.
