laser vs machine vs hand

I heard that the quality of most today's marketed gems could be better if
they'd only been cut diferently. Some say that gems cut by hand generaly
show their optical properties much better than those cut by machine? What
about laser cutting? And how is a regular customer supposed to know which
stone is machine, which is hand, and which is laser cut (if there is a way
to know)?

On Sun, 08 Aug 2004 14:33:18 GMT, in rec.crafts.jewelry "m4816k"
wrote:

I heard that the quality of most today's marketed gems could be better if
they'd only been cut diferently. Some say that gems cut by hand generaly
show their optical properties much better than those cut by machine? What
about laser cutting? And how is a regular customer supposed to know which
stone is machine, which is hand, and which is laser cut (if there is a way
to know)?


the reason many machine cut, commercially sold gems don't reach their full
potential optically is simply that not enough care goes into the cutting, and
that often they are cut as much to maximize the weight retention (remember that
gems often are sold by weight) from the rough, than optimizing optical
properties. The production line speeds of commercial cutting miss things like
perfectly meeting facets, perfect polishes, and perfect otpical alighment of the
finished stone to the correct optical directions of the rough (many gems differ
in their optical properties and color, depending on which direction one is
looking into the gem). By contrast, hand cut gems cut by those with the
willingness to do it right, usually are processed to produce the best looking gem
from a given piece of rough, regardless of weight loss or extra time spent.
Commercial cutters could do the same if they wished, but it would drive up the
cost of the gems substantially, and market forces dictate against that for many
materials, especially the less costly materials.

So called laser cutting is a misnomer. Lasers have been used in place of diamond
saws to cut diamond crystals or trim out fancy shaped girdle outlines,
especially in diamond cutting, but a laser cut surface is not smooth and
polished. It still requires traditional polishing operations. The so-called
laser cutting styles only refer to the style of cutting, originally derived and
copied from (and usually, considerably less attractive than) the highly unique
carving and cutting styles orginated by german cutters such as Berndt Munsteiner,
who cut grooves and ledges and ridges into the pavilion and crown facets of his
unique free form gems, giving a totally different look to the finished stones.
The commercial market takes traditionally facetted gems and cuts a few grooves
and notches into the pavilions, creating reflective patterns, and calls these
laser cuts, perhaps suggesting that the straight lines of the grooves resemble
laser beams or something. It's just a marketing term for a basically copied
idea, not a use of actual lasers to cut stones. The grooves are cut and polished
using conventional grinding and polishing methods.

Peter