I’ve wanted to try my hand at gemstone faceting for a number of years now and recently an opportunity came up to purchase a faceting machine locally so I went for it. One of our members here kindly organised a lesson for me with an experienced gem cutter in Hobart and got me off to a flying start.
Today I finished my first stone - a piece of clear quartz picked up at the recent PMAT field trip to Gladstone. A few mistakes were made, plenty of little lessons learned and getting to know my faceting machine but I am stoked with the result! A real stunning little gem. Cut in the classic “Standard round brilliant”. I’ve been trying to take a photo which shows off its sparkle and glitter to no avail, apparently this isn’t an easy thing to do.
A few more stones I did over the last couple of weeks. Getting the hang of things now, and really enjoying it. I started out with the intention of being able to cut the stones I dig myself, ie Sapphire, Topaz, Zircon, but now I really just want to cut anything and everything! If anyone has any exotic gemstone rough they want to sell please contact me im buying
You really have made progress with this. Congratulations. The little display boxes do they have a clear cover? I have a crocoite that is so fragile it needs to be cemented into a display box like that.
Hi @karl yes they have lids although the lid is pretty flush with the little cushion so it presses the gems down a bit, not a problem for cut stones but crocoite might get broken I think. Pretty handy little case actually, fairly cheap on ebay and will do me for a while.
G’day Ratters,
You are doing a very good with your new hobby. What sort of a machine are you using ? I have some faceting grade garnets from the harts ranges. Happy to give you a couple.
Ray that would be fantastic I would love to try some hartz range garnets, I have seen some photos of them when cut and they do look amazing. Would be happy to facet a couple and send you one back
The machine is an older Aus made one called a Hall MkV, its in pretty good shape and seems to be cutting very well.
Hey Jared, I replied to your mail to me ,but it won’t go through, what did I do wrong? I am not very bright when it comes to IT stuff.
I basically wrote asking how to get the stones to you and that I may have a couple of top sieve zircons from the north east for you also if there any good for faceting that is. Did you had a go to facet some spinel? They are looking stunning too.
Cheers
Send you a private message I have not done any Spinel yet but have a heap of really good size ones I have collected over the years so I will have a go at some point. I have never been fortunate enough to find a faceting grade top sieve zircon.
A couple of smokies I cut recently… The trillion (triangle) cut is in my own design, and I am very happy with how it turned out. It’s a fun process designing gems, a kind of crossroads between maths, art and science.
I love how that smokey Quartz cuts . Big temptation to buy a machine and have a go but i think i have too many interests already ! Thanks for showing and keep up the great work .
