Well…..Several years back I wrote an article on orienting star stones which to my surprise got printed and passed around to many clubs and got a very warm reception. I thought it would be a good idea to document the orientation of this stone as a guide for any potential moonstone cutters So I got out my camera…

The typical orientation method uses Star Refractol, although very viscous it is still a liquid which works well enough for the intended purpose but when lights (heat) and camera time get involved it starts to become a problem.

So, I thought epoxy resin might be the answer. I mixed up a little and applied it where I thought the orientation centre was located. I then let it dry with the crystal suspended from cheese wax so that the resulting epoxy bulb solidified where I thought the apex would be.

Ah…Hughes epoxy, great stuff but not quick. So, the next day I mounted the stone on my turntable with my trusty cheese wax and with a light source directly above it, I observed the moon in the epoxy bulb. I had missed the mark by a little but it did allow me to easily adjust the crystal orientation to show the position in which a moon would be displayed across the stone in a face-up position. This is of course when the blue moon effect stayed centred on the top of the epoxy bulb as the crystal rotated.

At this point I took some more video from a direct sideways position. What it shows is quite disappointing. It is obvious that there is probably no other way the stone could be oriented to provide a lesser recovery….sigh. Mother Nature does enjoy laughing at us!

With star and eye stones the closer to a hemisphere the crisper and better the display but with schiller, labradorescence and adularascence a flatter stone will display the effect better. With this in mind the possibility of more than two stones has to be considered. I am hoping that other cutters might offer advice if they see these pictures. More so if they are conversant with enough moonstone cutting.

Not having a pair of moonstone scissors I have to consider the kerf loss from sawing this crystal along with the wandering blade and break out chipping likelihood, I’m also considering the cleavage planes deciding to add to the excitement which is more than likely to occur as the stones get thinner. I favour the 2 stone option as this has the highest likelihood of success and probably the best recovery. However I feel the 3 stone option would provide the best results, although the recovery is likely to be less the saleabilty would be much higher.

Tony.
Who discovered greenscreening in iMovie;

Subject: RE: How Do I Cut A Cat’s-eye Chrysoberyl

The simplest and easiest way to orient any chatoyant
phenomena is with a commercial product known as Star
Refractol and a good light source. The Sun is the least
convenient and most superior, I use a ‘Maglite’ a powerful
focusable flashlight. Chrysoberyl eyes are usually very easy
to find however and can be oriented sometimes with little
more than water or glycerine.

Hang or hold the light as directly above you as possible and
allow the eye produced in a small bead of liquid on the
surface of the gem to guide you to the position of the
required effect, this may take a few goes if the phenomena is
weak, as in most garnet and quartz. Asteriated and
adularescent stones are sometimes cut as eyes too and this is
the easiest way to find that eye. A detailed explanation and
drawings accompany the Star Refractol mentioned above.

A far smaller gem is obtained using the cruder and much much
faster method of grinding to a bead and polishing the eye
and cutting a flat opposite. This method is employed
extensively throughout the Far Eastern cutting houses and is
the reason for the enormous bellies seen on most star
sapphires and rubies.

I have cut Chrysoberyl cats-eye as small as 1.25mm dia. and
have never had a problem orienting them; polishing them
however…I have several tricks to achieving that if you are
interested, none of them involve vertical cutting equipment.

I hope this is useful,

Anthony L. Lloyd-Rees

I wish you the best of luck with your venture into the public spotlight. I tried
‘ exploitation cutting ‘ when I set up my faceting bench in the front window of
our rock shop jewellery store back in the late ’70’s. It was a learning experience
and at times quite frustrating but the benefits were surprising. If you have
the right temperament (patience) and a little sales aggression you might
seriously improve your income. A few things to consider and prepare for;

Establish your sales procedure with the store and arrange for a store clerk to
complete any stone sales you close.

You can not have anything on your bench except your machine, this is NOT a club
show this is retail, if not, you will have your laps fondled and consequently
contaminated,  you will also lose important parts such as dops and allen keys.
Keep all of your polishing laps in bags in drawers and put them away if you
have to leave the bench even if it’s just for a few minutes. People are not
content to just look, the shorter they are the greater the tendency to
touch…everything, the very short will also attempt to taste as well.

All of these people, no matter how short or irritating, are called ‘ sales
opportunities ‘ and have to be treated as such. I had a bowl of tumble polished
stones and made certain that every inquiring customer received one. Hot gluing
them to business cards might be a good idea as you are not resident. Have
examples of partially cut stones attached to dop sticks illustrating the
progressive steps involved in producing a gem. Have as many cutting designs as
you can lay your hands on to tempt potential custom cutting clients.

For an educational/sales tool take samples of your work in standard cuts using
inexpensive rough such as paler varieties of amethyst, blue topaz and citrine.
Add purchased imported ‘ native cut ‘ examples of one identical coloured,
identical weight counterpart and one identical coloured, identical sized
counterpart. Label these examples with weights sizes and appraised values. I
displayed mine in a large Riker mount box, gem cups are not a good idea for
obvious reasons. With this opportunity to see the difference, your stones even
at full retail compare quite favourably and this is no time to have humble
pricing.

Remember again this is not a show, you are now a salesman and you have the full
attention of an interested retail customer who is ready to buy, you must take
full advantage of this situation, it is enviable. Immediately stop cutting when
approached and never act as though you want to get back to your stone whilst
the customer is talking to you. i.e. don’t fidget with your machine. Don’t use
cutting or mineralogical jargon and be prepared to answer; what’s that in
inches? over and over. By all means educate but be succinct and always steer
the conversation back to your special talent, the artistic advantage of
informed accurate cutting.

When people realise they have an opportunity to own a unique stone for a few
dollars more than a mass produced item there is very little sales resistance,
your price probably plays a very small part of this decision. When a custom cut
stone is ordered the price plays no part in the buying decision and you can
charge all the way up to full insurance replacement appraised value. The
average faceters major obstacle to loose stone sales is the lack of a skilled
goldsmith to make it wearable, You do not have this problem.

One more time, you are not demonstrating, this is not a show, your faceting
machine has become a sales tool and you have become a salesman. Personal
service is a hard sought commodity in our society and few can boast they have a
gem that was cut for them especially if they get to participate in the design
choice. Don’t diminish your customer’s experience with a low price but be quick
to offer cheaper alternatives, if you see a wince, suggest paler or less
desirable hues, better still suggest they negotiate for a cheaper mount from
the jeweller, maybe 10K rather than 18K

Finally a few more don’ts;
Never identify or value a customers stone, it’s not your job, it’s dangerous.
Say that’s pretty…..often.
Never berate a customers stone or jewellery, even if there are still bits of
Cracker Jack sticking to it.  Say that’s pretty…..often.
Never try to cut or repair anything ‘ while you wait ‘
Never use technical manuals
Never publicly cut anything of value
Never leave stones laying around
Never argue with a customer  (the difficult one)

HTH.  Tony.

> Regarding your comments about girdle thickness affecting
> brilliance I don’t agree with them, in order to get the best
> brilliance we are looking to achieve total internal
> reflection. The calculation for total internal reflection
> does not include any reference to the girdle. Reference to any
> good gemmological text will show the principle and formula for
> total internal reflection.

There is little chance that any faceter would want to achieve
total internal reflection in a gemstone because the resulting
stone is unsettable and unattractive. Any more than 4 facets on
the stone will compromise total internal reflection. Anything
other than a knife edge girdle will compromise total internal
reflection. Such a stone is also known as a corner block.
Holographers and others who play with lasers have commissioned
these from me cut from various high RI material.

I would hope that most gemstone enthusiasts would strive to cut
the most attractive gem possible. Bending and scattering of the
light returned from the pavilion by the crown facets is an
example of compromising total internal reflection. It is called
chromatic dispersion because the light is dispersed leaving only
little coloured bits of the rays being returned to the eye.
Artistic cutting would exploit such phenomena. The same goes for
scintillation, the little facets that provide the twinkle either
leak or return the rays providing that effect again at the cost
of perfect reflection

Optical physics and mathematics are vital to a cutter, but not
so much for getting things right but much more important, such
knowledge is for preventing getting things wrong. I agree as far
as physics is concerned a perfect 90 degree girdle has little or
no effect on the amount of light being reflected through the
crown. The size, shape and polish of the girdle however have a
huge impact on the attractiveness of the finished stone.

Cutting a girdle to a precise percentage of anything may get you
points from a judge but a commercial setter will not be
impressed. For a stone to be easily and safely set the girdle
width has to be within fairly small limits. A stone with a
girdle width outside of these limits will not only look wrong,
it will compromise setting. Both small and large stones with
percentage cut girdles would qualify.

If a girdle were to be cut at anything other than precisely 90
degrees then it most certainly would have an influence on the
amount of internal reflection. I have never heard a reasonable
argument as to why girdles should be cut at 90 degrees and
usually cut mine at 80-85. The improvement in looks and
performance may be measurably infinitesimal but it all adds up.

Tony

Now for the good bit. You provide the provenance and replacement
value certificate for the loose unmounted stone. You do not need
to pass any exams and you are not going to be placed in a
suable position by issuing such a cert. What the cutters
certificate will do is provide an independent appraiser with all
of the details needed to provide insurance replacement
documentation. I like to go overboard here as the more
meticulous the detailing the more credible the cert will be.
Make it as spiffy as you can. Ink jet printer on certificate
paper is quite spiff.

The Cutters Certificate is for the origin of the gem and doesn’t
necessarily cover the origin of the rough. With obvious unique
material the cutter does not need documented proof but in all
other cases I always state what the material was sold as and who
sold it. This shifts the onus of country and mine identification
to the rough dealer. The piece of ground the stone came from
should not concern the cutter and does not alter the value of
the cutters time. The cert should also state the cutter’s value
of the stone. Not what it is sold for but what sum is needed for
the cutter to repeat the process and duplicate the stone. This
is the real value of the stone based on the true value of the
cutters time.

Certificate suggestions;

Rough vendor and date:     (someone to blame)

Material sold to you as :       (passing the buck)

Rough description, Location,  species and  variety. Weights and
measurements of rough are not useful as recovery percentages
will vary with every stone and original dimensions have no
bearing on the value of the finished gem.

Weights and Measurements and date of finished gem:

Design name,  Author and execution time:  (how long it took not
when you intend doing away with the designer)

Number of facets on the stone : ( Amazingly people love this one
if the number is big and faceted girdles give big numbers)

Angles used on facets:  (Yes you will find appraisers that don’t
know the names of all the facets we use)

Name of the stone:  (It’s your baby, name it. Yes you will feel
pretentious, all of us on the list will think you pretentious,
however your customer will love it and list members don’t buy
your cut stones)

Care and Maintenance;    (helpful hints, warnings and cleaning
tips)

Scientific blah blah:  Latin names, chemical names and formulae,
atomic weight, associated varieties, world locations and any
other sciency filler.

Metaphysical blah blah: (Not just the ‘healy feely’ crowd but
reality addicts also enjoy this stuff)

If you still have any room or have decided to attach a booklet
you could also provide the cutting diagrams and instructions,
The copyright issues on some designs would have to be explored
but I don’t have Gemcad or any design software so I don’t do
this.

The valuation should include some wording like this;
Replacement value shown includes the industry standard handling
and stocking charges accepted by the majority of the jewellery
trade as applied to the loose stone only and does not include
the value of any metalwork, setting costs or other jewellers
expenses.

How much? As I said. the amount you want for doing it again and
being happy about it. Not how much you charged this time. Now
double it to cover the jewellers ‘handling charges’. That is the
replacement value, simple. Without this certificate your gem
could be replaced by an insurance company with any commercial
stone of similar size and colour, with it only a genuine INSERT
YOUR NAME HERE original would be acceptable even
if it were to cost many times the cost of a commercial
counterpart.

Date and sign your name as the gemcutter and give the expiry
date of the valuation,  You may not want to do it for that price
5 years hence but it should be good for 1 or 2. Most important
is clearly showing the certification fee, even if you didn’t
charge for the service this time, you need to show the value of
your documenting, cutting and gem knowledge.  Nothing below
$25 should be considered. Add any disclaimers you feel
necessary, such as; not an offer to purchase, not an offer to
supply, cert cannot be used as a selling tool etc.

Just in case you think this is all rather arrogant consider how
many of the top gemmologists and appraisers in the country have
cut more stones than you have. Not many I’d wager. You are not
selling a commodity you have created an art object and this is
how you sign it.  How many jewellery owners know the name of the
person that cut their gems. That knowledge has a cash value,
don’t give it away or squander it.  No  stone should leave your
shop without a certificate, you are throwing money away if you
do. What is an unsigned painting worth?

This is an example of a minimum cert.

Tony.

> i have a job coming up and i need to do some pricing on cut
> stones for a gentleman.  any chance you can direct me to a
> current reference?  i would be grateful for any information to
> help me price out the stones.

At the risk of sounding rude I sincerely hope you are not
aspiring to compete with some nameless production assembly line
cutting shop in your pricing.

Getting the current wholesale price for any standard gem is as
difficult as opening a Stuller catalogue or thumbing through the
back of a Lapidary Journal.  Local gem dealers have most common
jewellery stones and are willing to give prices over the phone.
As an example I can get you a 2ct Amethyst with really good
colour for $40 – $50 but if you want to commission an
exquisitely crafted genuine Patty faceted gem, complete
with her cutting certificate and full provenance you can expect
to pay up to a couple of hundred extra.

If you as an enthusiast or a professional cut something for the
sheer pleasure of the experience then the finished stone has a
value that is directly proportional to the intrinsic value of
the material. Usually rough cost + cutting cost x markup.  Any
downward negotiation from this amount is you not getting your
hobby experience fully patronised.

When you negotiate a commission the customer is seeking your
service and the price of the stone is now simply an addition to
their cost of this service.

To determine the ’service’ value you need a difficulty factor, a
duplication factor and a bucket factor.
How much pain and inconvenience will this job give you
Difficulty;      1 – 5      1=easy         5=migraine
How much trouble would it be to cut more like this
Duplication;      1 – 3     1=fun        3=tiring
How would you feel if you had to cut a bucket full at this price
Bucket;        1 – 3        1=elated        3=miserable

Of course you also need your $per hour value. For a professional
that’s simply shop rate, for an enthusiast who has no idea of
their value as a cutter, just use the largest $per you have ever
been paid by an employer that was making money paying you that
little. Then double it, you can bet your boss did. That’s at
least what you are worth whether or not you are doing whatever
it was you were being paid for. Think that’s a lot of money,
nope, that’s the rate for lap time, fiddle farting around is on
your own time which means dopping with 24 hour epoxy doesn’t get
you 24 hours pay waiting for it to cure….heehee not in my
union anyway.

Your Commission Price is
hours x $perhour x Difficulty x Duplication x Bucket + stone
because that’s what you have just determined is what the job is
worth to you. Any downward negotiation from this amount is you
making a charitable donation to someone else’s business.

I bet you wanted to click on something and look stuff up on a
table…sorry…grin.

If you are a glue or adhesive dopster this entire debate is moot.
As has already been pointed out you can’t glue well to a
polished surface. You really have no choice but to continue
cutting upside down and backwards. I recommend skipping this
post and the entire thread. Wax luckily is not an adhesive, the
stone is held to the dop with air pressure. A polished surface
helps.

Well as a table first guy I am somewhat perplexed by the comments
some of our debaters have come up with. To start with there have
been no ‘crown first’ advocates that I have noticed. We have
table-crown-pavilion cutters and we have pavilion-crown-table
cutters. Well I am a table-pavilion-crown cutter with a
defensable procedure.

I sincerely hope that I am correct in assuming that the
motivation of all three groups is identical.  We are all
striving to produce the largest, most perfect gem possible, from
any given piece of rough. It is certainly possible for all 3
methods to produce identical gems from identical roughs.

What are the differences then? My personal experience has shown
that P-C-T cutting
needs NO mathematics,
it is tolerant of miscutting and overcutting corrections,
you have no predetermined formula to keep your recovery honest,
you get to play with your transfer block
and you get to spend the maximum time possible with each stone.

T-C-P and T-P-C cutting
requires basic trig.  Of course computer modelling can be used
if you don’t have a handy slide rule.
You have no room to move if there are any problems caused by
ineptitude. The waste has already been removed so recutting
means a smaller stone. The P-C-Ters have yet to cut their table
so the profile and intended size can remain unchanged.
By cutting and polishing the table first you have a reference
for the stone’s finished size and weight by simply calculating
from the available depth. Achieving that is the challenge.
This reference plane also means you dispense with the transfer
two dop juggling nonsense
and of course your playing time is sadly reduced.

I find the idea of any part of a stone having more importance
than any other is a bit silly. A pavilion with no crown or a
crown with no pavilion is pretty much a waste of time, neither
has any importance at all without the other. I am really not
interested in anyone’s opinion of how much wrongness they find
acceptable. I am even less interested in their opinion of where
they think they can get away with wrongness, no matter what
facts they use to back up those opinions. I find such attitudes
reprehensible. there are enough people doing it wrong that don’t
know any better. Why add to it? If your procedure is causing you
to commit these inaccuracies it might behoove you to try
something different.

Tony.

Cutting and polishing a table with any method other than free
hand. Attaching a dop stick and holding it in a machine will
really help extend your cutting time.

Cutting and polishing a table any time other than as the first
facet. This can add an hour or more.

Writing things you think are important on pieces of paper.
Although only a few seconds each, copious notes add up.

Looking at the numbers on your machine to tell you where you are.
Use the index gear with most teeth to ensure your looking is
justified. A missed indexing or two encourages the ‘double
check’ which can be good for up to10 minutes a stone.

Cut every facet regardless of whether it could be cut with the
prepolish or polishing lap. With really small facets which
overcut easily you can often get to cut a whole new crown or
pavilion

Cut every facet perfectly regardless of whether it could be
corrected with the prepolish or polishing lap.

Hold the quill during cutting and polishing rather than using
fingertips only on the stone. Really small stones enjoy being
redopped over and over and it’s always good to practice.

Reading things you wrote down that you thought were important but
you remembered anyway and now don’t want to waste all the effort
that took so you check to make sure you remembered correctly
which of course you did and that makes you feel clever.

Looking at a facet being cut to see how you’re doing even when
you know you aren’t there yet.

Looking at a facet being polished to see how you’re doing rather
than ‘counting’ them in.

Checking a polished facet for completion before the whole row has
been polished.

Playing silly beggers with two dops in a transfer jig because you
enjoy the challenge of cutting the stone upside down and
backwards.

Dopping with anything other than wax can make the experience last
as long as a cricket match.

Adjust your quill/yoke balance and bearings so that if the quill
slips from your grasp it will drop and damage the stone rather
than just stay where you let go. Having your machine set up so
that a moment’s inattention provides an excuse to start all over
from the beginning is always a great time extender.

Well I figure I’ve offended enough people but I would point out
that speed cutting is not so much what you do as what you don’t
do. The cutting and polishing time with a 3 lap procedure on a
1+ ct SRB sapphire would probably not exceed 15 minutes of
actual stone to lap contact time. The rest of the time is
fighting or playing with the equipment.

Tony.

I apologise for the somewhat choppy way this reads but I prepared it this way to make it easy for me to cut and paste line by line to a chat room editor.

The original presentation took 3 separate events which explains the reference to “more next week”

Hello everyone, I would like to share with you all a few of the quirks and
intricacies involved in working for the jewellery trade.

Although my experiences are primarily with commercial jewellers in the Vancouver area I understand there is not a lot of difference between North American cities.

If you are thinking of setting up shop in your downtown jewellery trade centre there may be a few pointers in my following comments.

If you are intrigued by the commercial possibilities of gem repairs or would just enjoy working on otherwise unaffordable rare and valuable gemstones some of the following suggestions might be quite handy.

First question of course has to be….do you have the right stuff

If not where do you go to find the right stuff and how long it takes to get it.

You will need to acquire finished stones as well as rough,     this means establishing contact with several coloured stone dealers as well as rough dealers.

Surprisingly you will probably be purchasing many more cut stones than you ever thought you would.

You will also be going through a lot more of your general supplies too so you need to establish reliable sources here too.

There are a few things that you will need to learn in order to deal with the commercial aspects of our art and they are not what you would think.

The more knowledge you have as to the whereabouts and availability of     different materials is one less opportunity for someone else to steal your customers.

You have to maintain a good database/indexing system showing what terms are available to you from what dealers, most important all memo dealers    are on the top of the list or else on your ‘Primary’ list.

Of course there are other things that you have to be able to do well. A very important one is exercise restraint.

It may come as a surprise to learn that the majority of hobby lapidary and rock-hounds have considerably better gemological knowledge than most jewellery store owners, staff or even bench workers.

What you need to learn is how NOT to educate them. The temptation is great but the effort is futile.

However you do need to fully establish that you are talking about the same thing, for instance; ” I use black Brazilian agate for my ‘black onyx’ needs, is that acceptable?”

——————————-

Of course you also must realise that you are now seeking gainful employment from this venture and you have to concentrate on getting the job done quickly enough to make a buck.

To these ends there are many gem cutting short cuts you should know.

Almost all of trade work is repairs and very seldom is anyone in the jewellery trade willing to take advantage of your real talents as the majority of    your customers cannot see the difference between a well cut stone and a poorly cut one.

They certainly will not spend money to recognise this difference. Repairing a rounded facet poorly polished stone with sharp flat highly polished facets will be just as noticeably offensive as the chip was.

99 times out of a 100 the requirement is for the stone to look as though it were never damaged and to cost as little as possible and lose as little weight as possible.

The answers to this are polishing laps that cut, multi cut laps and cutting/polishing ringed laps. This usually results in much less work being necessary, such niceties as facet equality, meet and order have a very low priority, many jewellers are more than happy as soon as all sign of abrasion or chipping has been removed.

Obviously you will intellectually suffer greatly as you compromise your knowledge and taste to satisfy your customers demands, so charge for it    until you feel better.

Your customer and theirs are getting a better weight return than a full recut would yield and they are paying less than a full recut would normally cost.

Just make sure you don’t make it very much cheaper and by all means allow a highly valued stone to influence your charge, it’s called care and attention.

Care and attention is worth money, and you can prove it by providing an infinitesimal weight loss, as I explain later.

time is money,
When you are in business your time is your own, it is what you have to sell, you can sell it cheap or expensive you can give it away, waste it, kill it, spend it, you just have to make sure that it     is your decision. Never allow someone else to spend your time their way unless they are paying for it, do not be afraid to offer consulting services, remember advice is worth what it costs, remind everyone.

false economies.
Beware the trap to out-cheap yourself, If you have to supply something on a cut to fit or a cut to match basis, a purchased stone can be approved if the customer isn’t supplying, it can be easily viewed for imperfections, colour, etc., usually the stone will be quite cheap maybe the rough would only be a few pennies, saying “I can do that from rough” to every cheap replacement will guarantee the least efficient and the least rewarding option. This is one of the places where your ‘where to get it’ knowledge can pay dividends. You still get to charge your cutting fees and the ‘rough’ costs are passed on to the customer anyway, plus a small handling charge of course, and you get the benefit of cutting a completely windowed rough, guaranteeing NO surprises.

Other economies to avoid are concerning supplies and equipment, the costs of these are a very important consideration to the hobbyist but are readily sacrificed by a professional.  I have dops and laps that have become extremely limited application devices due to their ‘misuse’ to perform a cutting ’stunt’.

The value of the job exceeded the value of the equipment, just don’t forget to use that ‘replacement’ money to replace the equipment. When the meter is running is when you can’t afford to scrimp on supplies If you need to cut in a hurry a fresh charge of diamond is what it takes. This is no place to test economy cutting techniques.

———————————————————————-

next week

How trade cutting differs from reality. …who is your competition anyway.

Cutting to match,   Not an alternative to cheap stones….how to say NO

—————————————————————————

Trade cutting requirements have no relationship to any of the gemmological knowledge that you have.

Fit and finish have main priority and correct angles and brilliance, flat facets and tight meets are treated as almost irrelevant.

This generalisation is based on my experience with commercial jewellers, of course there are exceptions, for which I am very grateful.

Surprisingly your competition isn’t anywhere near you, however many cutters live in your town they are not your competition.

I know and have an informative repartee with all of Vancouver’s cutters, an attitude that is shared by all rock folk but rarely among jewellers.

The North American commercial gem cutting community is to all intents and purposes nonexistent.

It’s safe to assume that any coloured stone found in any class of jewellery has been cut outside of North America.

These native cutters are your competition, they are pathetic by comparison to any of you, but considering what they are paid……

European cutting houses are touted to be amongst the finest quality    producers of gemstones, however they generally can’t compare with any of our local rock and lapidary club presentations.

Once again these people are being paid by the stone weight and not their brilliance.

Most of the time you are asked to repair these stones and you have to copy the cutting finish in order to disguise the fact that the stone     had ever been repaired.

Non-flat facets and sporadic polishing are not necessarily the easiest thing to duplicate and they do require a technique in the same way that doing it properly does.

That and a few     cheap tricks. I have a few.

A successful repair is when your customer has a sale-able gemstone and you have executed the repair in a minimum of time and you have been well rewarded for your efforts.

Your customer has been satisfied with the quality of service, the minimal weight loss, the invisibility/match of the repair.

Their satisfaction with your pricing is of limited interest to you.

Estimating weight loss can be a little tricky until you have experience to draw on, there are some simple estimations though.

Not quite trial and error but close, educated guessing for the most    part until you can rely on your notes to enable a more accurate estimate.

There are few crown repairs that should exceed a 2-5% loss if abrasion is the problem.

There are ways to bring this under 1% and there are customers willing to pay a premium for this service.

Pavilion repairs are usually mandrel chipped or a depth reduction for clearance and weight loss though great, 25-35%, this is usually  not a consideration.

You MUST make it clear to the customer when pavilions are hacked away that  the apparent colour and brilliance could change.

Recutting a pavilion for brilliance can also be a huge weight loser sometimes almost as much as a reduction cut and rarely less than 20%.

It is always safest to overestimate the possible loss and then show up a bit clever

Sometimes it’s important to recut with minimum weight loss.

Really clever seeming minimal repolishing losses can be achieved on abraded crown stones of value; Rubies, Emeralds and Sapphires.

By chasing and cheating the stone for each facet and polishing in each and every one of them with a polishing lap that cuts.

This can take as much as 3 times as long as simply recutting and polishing the crown.

When the difference in comparative weight losses enter the $100’s of dollars there is often little reluctance to the possible 4 times price difference for the repolishing job.

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When you’re set up for business and are anxious to please and reluctant to turn away business remember you are NOT an alternative to cheap stones.

You have to learn how to say NO. Beware of price bullies though, what is it worth to you not them, is what determines your price.

A friendly refusal to compromise your prices accompanied by polite suggestions for cheap alternatives, is your only choice.

You will not lose any useful business by refusing cheap jobs.

You will soon realise that almost all of your income will come from a small proportion of your customers.

You will also realise that there is mutual admiration here, keep these ones happy but also keep their invoices as high as possible whilst providing superlative service.

Never compromise on the quality of work to this small group and always let their jobs take priority.

As for the others….

You will be asked to supply and cut stones for some customers who get quite indignant with your charges.

Pointing out that various parts of the world can cut for a tiny fraction of your charges.

Pointing out that when available the finished stones also are a fraction.

These are not your concerns, they only would be if you lived in these places.

Beware to never drop your prices to accommodate people, in extreme circumstances you may do things for free but NEVER ‘cut a deal’.

It will return to haunt you.

If you lose any customers because they think you overcharge, be happy that you have one less ‘cheapskate’ customer to deal with.

Then there are the customers that will promise you huge quantities of work if you would only be more ‘competitive’ in your pricing.

You don’t want lots of business if it all loses money.

Another favourite is a refusal to understand that a    synthetic doesn’t mean easy.

Admittedly there can be no surcharging for care and attention but a Sapphire is still a Sapphire and will resist your efforts equally whether it is made by nature or man.

You do not need to justify your prices.

You will be tempted to defend yourself when questioned on your pricing policies, resist this temptation.

You do not need to justify to anyone how you arrive at any of your prices.

The sole exception would be ‘rush jobs’ which carry a ‘rush jobs’ premium

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next week…conclusion

Just because your name isn’t on it….maintaining integrity
when and what to compromise

How to set prices…the difference between giving away your time
and charging like a wounded rhinoceros,

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Good evening and welcome to part III the final chapter of my presentation on cutting and repairs for the Jewellery Trade.

Because you are cutting for a Jeweller the ultimate customer knows nothing of you and most likely assumes that their jeweller did your work.

Because your name isn’t on the job you are still capable of maintaining integrity and indeed you should.

You now have to decide when and what to compromise, but you must first accept the fact that you are selling your cutting skills.

This factor is now no longer a part of the equation.

At times you will be faced with a cutting job that questions your integrity on some level or another.

It may be biting your tongue and copying a native cut….and polish or ignoring critical angles and cutting a huge window.

If you take on the job then the customer is right and you should do your best to accomplish what they want.

This doesn’t mean that you have to accept each and every cutting job that gets offered to you.

Obviously you have to decide what you are prepared to do and where to draw the line.

Obviously if you are asked to do stuff that you think is devious or deceptive then it could possibly be so and rather than risk regretting it, pass on the job and immediately forget about it.

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Setting prices that are fair to you and fair to your customer can be one of the biggest headaches in store for you.

There is a big difference between giving away your time and charging like a wounded rhinoceros.

Hopefully I can help you to determine what is a job worth.

Possibly about the most difficult thing an artistic type can be asked to do is to put a price on their own work.

Obviously if your charges are too high nobody will use you, if they are too low you will indeed be ‘used’ but you will also be hungry.

There are many factors that have to be considered when coming up with a price list and pricing policy.

First you have to know what YOUR costs will be, how much YOU have to pay to do the work, your rent, electricity, supplies etc.

Then you get to add your remuneration for the job,  the profit to your ‘company’ for contingencies and growth.

Finally there is personal greed and reimbursement for being dreadfully clever.

This total would have to be moderated by the market value of what you are offering and enhanced by what you think your market will bear.

When you think you have it figured out and it’s fair to everyone, especially you, then stick by it faithfully, don’t compromise price for anyone.

You will be approached for requests for workshop time by the hour and once more it’s time to resist.

You aren’t a machine you probably don’t have a factory, at best you might have independent workspace.

You have gone to the trouble of working out a fair price list, employ it, enjoy it.

If there is multiple or quantity cutting work being offered and you think that it can be quicker because of the quantity then guess at what the reduced amount of work might be and reduce your fee by 1/2 of that.

You could still come up a bit short.

Like it or not you are probably going to have to give credit if you want trade work.

Unfortunately refusing to give account status could deprive    you of what could be quite possibly your best customers.

You will probably have a few slow payers and be tempted to give some discount to ensure prompt payment.

Never give payment discounts although you can make it appear that you have by adding a credit surcharge to all invoiced jobs and reducing it for speedy settlement.

There is no reason to give everyone account status immediately, this means you are giving credit.

This also invariably means that some of these people will abuse the privilege.

Let your customers earn your trust and until then let them pay for any credit you are asked to give.

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I guess this presentation can’t really be closed without some comment on how to attract customers, how to sort out the good from the bad and how to hang on to the good ones.

Obviously in order to take maximum advantage of trade work you need to put yourself amongst all of the jewellers.

If you have any kind of jewellery industry in your town at all you will discover that they will find you.

Being there when it easy for them too will also ensure your popularity.

Make your hours useful for those who have normal shopping hours so that they can get to you and attend to their own business as well.

This means that you will definitely be more appreciated if you are available either before 8:30 a.m. or after 6:00 p.m.

Getting other trade people to accept ‘drop offs’ for you is not professional except in dire circumstances.

Although I always prefer to give someone the benefit of the doubt it is my experience that customers with payment problems will show their nature early in the relationship.

To this end I always prefer to have one account settled before more credit is allowed on additional work.

This practice won’t endear you to some customers but the thoroughly honest ones will not have a problem with this.

You will discover your preferential customers fairly quickly and these people should be dropped from any discounted surcharging that you are using.

Make their billing as simple as possible and certainly go out of your way to accommodate them.

By all means shuffle the order of your jobs when necessary, just don’t compromise on any pricing.

Be as professional in your dealings as you are able.

This doesn’t mean being unfriendly but it does mean you aren’t at your local rock and lapidary club meeting so don’t treat your customers like club members or friends.

To have your entire income come from gemcutting to the trade is fairly ambitious unless you live in a city of a few million people.

This is of course directly proportional to your appetite too.

This is not a high income pastime, no matter how much fun you’re having, you will need to have something that provides a supplemental income.

The relationships you foster through your interactions might just provide this in the form of your new found ability to ‘master’ jewellery manufacturing extremely cheaply.

You will discover that all of the jewellery making processes are available to you at wholesale or below, depending on who’s life you’ve saved recently.

Wax carving, casting, finishing, setting and presentation are all separate and purchasable services that if done right can provide you with jewellery ofttimes cheaper than doing it yourself, assuming you could.

It is a little upsetting to realise that the sale of your cut gems may not necessarily fill the requirement of income supplementation as easily as you might think, remember your competition?

You are in an ideal position to get LESS than great prices for your cut stones, you will get an occasional realistic priced sale and that oh so rare, full whack retail.

What you can get well paid for is custom cut stones. When a stone of specific size or cut is ordered this is a sale of cutting service and a unique product. Even synthetics will command a very good price in these circumstances.

There is a saying that either a good sale or a good buy means you have done good business.

To those ends you are in a position to make some very clever and amazing purchases.

Yes, treasures will indeed walk in through your door, be ready for them.

In conclusion, I would like to point out that it may seem that I harbour a certain amount of hostility towards my chosen customers.

Nothing could be further from the truth as many of my customers are also friends now.

This is not to say that they understand the economics and mechanics of what I do, neither do they appreciate the losses that I suffer as a cutter.

I don’t think it is professional to mention failed attempts to my customers but someone has to pay for crawling on the floor looking for 2mm stones, inlay that got too small, or broke.

Many of a cutters losses are unrecoverable unlike those that a jeweller might suffer, I don’t want sympathy, but I will take cash.

Your income must cover these contingencies and losses which is one of the reasons I have stressed diligent adherence to your pricing policy.

My final words on losses are probably the most important of this presentation.

Contrary to your customers opinion and belief, that $X,000.00 stone isn’t. Now that it has been abraded or damaged the value is no longer there. If offered for sale it would garner very little more than similar sized piece of rough. They have to be made aware of this before you accept the job.

When a stone is brought to you for repair you must carefully check it for damage, possible problems ( cracks and inclusions ) size, weight and id.

This information should be placed on the receipt/work order along with clear and precise requirements of all work needed.
The identity ought to read “stone said to be: whateverite, X x X mm X depth X.XX cts” Never accept a customers identity of a stone nor assume you know from just looking what it might be, however obvious.

Your work order should also include a limitation of liability and a refusal to accept responsibility for a failed stone failing further.

Finally you are there to help your customers solve their problems but you will find that many are eager to make their misfortune your problem. That’s because researching solutions can waste an awful lot of time, let them do it.

That’s all I can think of to say, except thankyou for reading this and I hope it has been useful or at least, not boring.

Any questions?

Apparently glue doesn’t bond well to a polished surface and as you obviously don’t need the stones in a hurry, you might as well continue cutting with your favourite procedure.

Although not original, I have found very few cutters that cut ‘regular’ size stones that have adopted the polished table first, pavilion second, crown last, cutting procedure. Very large stones, very small stones and almost all diamonds have their tables cut and polished before any other cutting proceeds.

There are many advantages to polishing a table by hand before cutting any other facets

Discovery, finding out what you have.  As you start cutting the table a window develops in the rough,  it is quite easy to see even small uglies through a wet 600 window and you will be able to easily rethink your orientation before very much material is removed.

A facet is only polished quickly when its entire surface is in contact with the lap. The table is easily held flat against a polishing lap with finger pressure but it is not quite so easy to ensure 100% contact if dopped.

With a polished table you now have a perfect window into your stone, it can be readily checked for any problems that might occur and can even be mounted in a microscope for close scrutiny in fact this can be done at any time during the table cutting and polishing process. A dopped stone prohibits this.

During this process you learn the characteristics of the stone, the cutting action and the polishing technique and a big plus, you dispose of the most difficult and important facet first. Furthering this confidence in success is the knowledge that you will not have to make any design or angle adjustments to compensate for hidden inclusions showing up.

You now have a reference for a mathematical model. Measuring the depth of the stone will allow you to calculate exactly the width of the finished gem cut to the exact angles required by the design. You can also predict not only the size but also the finished weight, within a couple of points usually, and the stone hasn’t been dopped yet.

If the rough has insufficient width then all that you do is cut away some depth until you have a sufficiently lesser need that does fit. You never have to compromise and use inefficient angles because you have run out of stone.

You now have a cutting reference.  The girdle will easily cut
parallel to the table. If the stone becomes detached at any point the finished table ensures perfect registration for replacing it, either redopping to the table for redopping during the pavilion cutting or using the target dop for redopping during the crown cutting.

Finally, the point of this post, which I really wish I could make shorter, is the ease in cutting numerous calibrated stones with little or no time consuming sidetrack procedures. If you have a piece of rough with a finished table you can cut it exactly to the required depth for any given girdle width. If you aren’t comfortable with cotangents there are computer models that will do the sums for you. If you want the trig, I have an article in the Archives called ‘Cutting Mathematics”

Cutting to an accurate depth for the preform can easily be accomplished by holding the stone in your fingers but if a hand held dop stick is used you need to measure the stone, determine the amount to be removed and then dop it. Now measure the dop and stone together and simply grind away the unnecessary material.

That’s all there is to it, matched depth=matched width. Sorry but it needed the pre-amble.

Tony.