Lapidary / Gemcutting

A lapidarist (also known as a gemcutter), is a specialist artisan, who specialises in the cutting, grinding and polishing of hardstones, gems and minerals to creature statues, gems for jewellery or other ornamental stone work. They can also act as buyers and appraisers of such materials.
Lapidarists work doing the following:

• Positioning rough stone in a holder, and holding the stone against the edge of a revolving saw or lapidary slitter impregnated with diamond dust to cut and slit stone.
• Removing cut stone and placing it in lapidary stick. A gemcutter then selects the shaping wheel and applies abrasive compound. They hold a lapidary stick against the revolving shaping wheel and lapidary disk to further shape stone and grind facets.
• Examining stone for accuracy of cut, using a magnifying glass. A gemcutter polishes stone, using felt or canvas-covered polishing wheel, and polishing compounds, such as tripoli or jeweler's rouge.
• Possibly using a mechanical facet-cutting device. A gemcutter may cut and polish diamonds for industrial purposes, and be designated as an Industrial-Diamond Polisher (jewelry-silver).

They use specific tools, usually involving a holder, a lapidary stick, and different cutters, grinders & polishing tools during the process.

Type

Artisan