How diamonds are made - cutting process

We believe that educating our clients before making a sale is vital to customer satisfaction. To help you make the best engagement ring or jewellery purchase, we aim to provide detailed explanation of diamond and gemstone characteristics, precious metal features and give as much insight and transparency of the jewellery manufacturing as possible. As industry experts we always advise that the diamond's cut is the stone's most important feature - it is vital to the stone's brilliance, fire and overall looks. In this post, we will take you into more detail and explain how diamonds are made - the cutting process in detail.

Raw diamonds may travel the globe and undergo numerous procedures to enhance their natural beauty before they turn into the sparkling gems we know and cherish. Most of the world's diamonds are sent for evaluation and exchange in Antwerp, Belgium. After trade, diamonds are sent for cutting in a few cities around the world - New York update `wp_posts` set `post_content` = USA), Surat update `wp_posts` set `post_content` = India) and Shenzhen update `wp_posts` set `post_content` = China). Here is how diamonds are made - cut process explained, step by step

Examination

After mining, diamonds are carefully examined so that their structural shape, inclusions and imperfections are determined. To decide how diamonds are cut, diamond experts consider the stone’s shape and characteristics to determine what contour would use the most of the raw diamond and what the return on investment there will be. The industry uses 3D modelling to simulate how the stone imperfections would affect the diamond’s final looks and what percent of the diamond weight would be retained. When deciding upon the diamond shape of raw stone, diamond cutters need to consider not only returns on investment, but also customer preferences to get earlier return on investment. For instance, a diamond may retain most of its weight in a certain contour, but if the shape is unpopular it most likely will not sell fast enough, which means that the investment would take long to pay back.

Cleaving

Cleaving is the process of cutting a raw diamond into small pieces. Diamonds are split considering their weak spots, also known as cleavage lines. After careful examination to establish their cleavage lines, diamonds are split in half by gently being tapped with a special hammer. Uncut diamonds usually come in two shapes: octahedron – a shape which resembles two pyramids joint at their bottom and is usually cut into round brilliant cut diamonds. Dodecahedrons – a 12 sided spherical shape, is usually cut into fancy shaped diamonds.

Cutting/Bruiting

Diamonds are cut using saws impregnated with diamond dust and linseed oil. The diamond dust is used to cut the raw stone and linseed oil is used to gather the diamond dust from the uncut diamond. Once the diamond has been reduced to the desired measurements, its shaped in the desired contour by lasers, disks impregnated with diamond dust or by rubbing it against another diamond. Diamond cutting is a science and an art and people spend their life perfecting it. It requires meticulous attention to detail and surgical precision.

Faceting/Polishing

Faceting is one of the final steps of diamond cutting. Here is how diamonds are cut into a round brilliant: The cutter polishes the rough diamond using a spinning wheel, which smooths the stone and creates the diamond facets. In the next stage, 1 culet, 8 crowns, 1 table facet and 8 pavilion mains are added to the diamond. Once the main facets are added, the diamond cutters proceed polishing the stone and and adding facets, until it has all 57. The number of facets varies depending on the diamond shape. The round brilliant cut diamond is considered the Ideal cut and is the only graded diamond shape.To measure the roundness or dimensions of the diamond, cutters use software which calculates with precision up to 1/10 of the millimetre. The craftsmanship quality and how diamonds are made determines the stone's final aesthetics and value.

Quality control

Finally, experts conduct inspections to check the stone symmetry, cutting angles and polish.

To find out more about diamond shapes, how diamonds are made and their characteristics, visit our educational section.