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.

The most popular cut for a diamond ring today is still the round, brilliant diamonds cut. It was developed in the 17th century in Venice. It is still preferred when the raw crystal is in an octahedron formation.

Even though as much as 50% of the stone is cut away in the process, often two stones can be carved from an octahedron.

More unusually-shaped stones are used for fancy cuts, such as a marquise, pear or heart-shaped diamond. The earliest brilliants had 17 facets on the top of the stone and were called double-cut. This was soon improved with stones cut with 33 facets and were called triple-cut brilliants.

There are now cuts such as the princess cut, trillions, ovals, pear and heart-shaped. Some innovative cutters have even fashioned star or butterfly-shaped diamonds! One patented diamond cut, the Ashoka diamond, is an oblong cut with rounded, brilliant ends, and requires a stone 3 carats or larger.

It’s an exceptionally beautiful (and pricey!) diamond shape. Tiffany has also patented a cut of diamond called the Lucida cut. It’s the lucky bride whose fiancé gives her one of these highly coveted stones!

Books about Diamond Cut

Related posts:

• Diamonds Carat
• Judging Diamond Quality
• 30 Million Dollars Bikini
• 14K White Gold Round 3 Stone Blue Diamond and White Diamond Ring
• 1.52 CT TW WHITE & YELLOW DIAMOND ENGAGEMENT RING MADE IN 18K WHITE & YELLOW GOLD