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Ch. 18: Cutting and Polishing

Ch. 18: Cutting and Polishing Page of 396 Ch. 18: Cutting and Polishing Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
180 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
The early lapidaries dared not attempt the splitting of a stone to correct its faults or alter its natural form. Every stone was estimated according to the impression it made upon the scales. Hence its facets were only smooth flat surfaces ground upon the rounded exterior, — an unmitigated rose cut of trivial triangles, or a terraced surface of rings and bands. The master of his craft to-day must make his diamonds perfect reflectors of light at
all hazards. If any excrescence exists,he must cut it away, or the light which enters a flattened surface may be so entangled that it will never emerge. When he takes up a cross-grained, defective stone, he will reject it. Like a true surgeon he will quickly dis­cern how he may remove most safely a defective part, and will proceed boldly with his task. His first step in the work is to scratch the surface round the part to be split off with another diamond. Having made the diamond fast in a cement bed com-
Ch. 18: Cutting and Polishing Page of 396 Ch. 18: Cutting and Polishing
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