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Index of Online Faceting Articles, Tips and How-to

'Just ask Jeff' FAQs by Jeff Graham
Conversions: Weight and length conversions... What is what?; How are grit/mesh/micron related and what is what?
Design Questions: What is a Barion?; What is a Princess cut?; What L/W mean and what is it used for?; What is Tangent Ratioing? What is your opinion?; What is Face up Brightness and Tilt Brightness?; Does an Apex Crown help with Tilt Brightness?
Dopping Questions: Do you recommend wax or glue for dopping?; How do I get started dopping with wax?; What kind of alcohol should I use?; How do I clean dops?; Re-dopping a stone... How do I do it?; How do I transfer a heat sensitive stone with super glue to a new dop?; How do I dop a heat sensitive stone with super glue
Equipment Questions: What Faceting Equipment do I need to get started?; What is a good Faceting Machine to start with?; What do I do if I think my machine is out of alignment?; Do I really need dial indicators, strain gauges, down lights, digital read outs...?; Why don't you carry all types of products and equipment?
Faceting Machine Reviews: Ultra Tec Faceting Machine; Facetron Faceting Machine; Graves Faceting Machine
Gemstone Cutting Questions and Examples: Cutting Sapphires - "Simple Heart"; How do I cut a stone with different colors on different axis's?; Cutting Simple Portuguese...
Gemstone Grading and Color Questions: GIA Gemstone Grading System
Gemstone Tools: What is a Dichroscope and how do I use it?; What are complimentary colors? What's a color wheel?
Gemstone Treatment Questions: Is all of that Citrine and Amethyst real?; Are all Emeralds treated and what is your opinion?; What is the True Color of Aquamarine? How is it Heated?
How Do I Get Started Questions: How do I find a club in my area?; What are good books to start with?; What type of stone should I cut first?; Can I start to learn to facet with man-made Quartz? Should I?
Identifying Rare Gemstones: What does the African "Pariaba" Toumaline look like rough?; What does a top color change Garnet look like?; What does Siberite Tourmaline look like?
Lap Questions: What is my opinion on laps? What do I use?; Do I really need to score polishing laps and if so how?; What is a Last Lap and how do I use it?; What is a Spectra (Ultralap) Lap? How do I use them?; Do I need a ceramic lap and how do I get it to work?
Making Money Faceting Questions: Can I make money faceting?; What stones make money?; Is stone size important when cutting for money?; Should I do repair work on gemstones, what is your opinion?; How do I start selling to jewelers?; How do I buy rough that I can cut and make money on?; How can I be sucessful in the Gemstone Business?; Gem rough is expensive... Why? Is it really? How about some perspective...; What rough can I make money on? How do I figure it out?; How do I get the best yield from a crystal? How do I figure it out?
Polishing Questions: How do I polish Quartz & Beryl?; How do I polish Kunzite (Spodumene)?; How do I polish Tourmaline & Garnet?; How do I polish Halite?; How do I polish Sapphires?
Pricing Stones Questions: How do I price my stones?; What is your opinion of Pricing Guides?; How do I figure rough cost?; I sold a stone to a jeweler and later found out he made a killing on it... Am I too cheap?; Carats vs. Grams? Which is best?
Rough Questions: How do I tell where the "c" axis on Topaz is and orientate it?; What is CZ?; What is the White Paper Test?; Are all Sapphires Blue?; Why does rough cost almost as much as commercially cut stones sometimes?; Why is some rough stone like Topaz the same cost of cut stones?; How does the supply of gemstones and rough actually work?
Tucson Gem Show Questions: Jeff's Tips for the Tucson Gem Show... Equipment; Gemshows... Tucson In Particular; Jeff's Tips for buying at a Gem Show; What is the Bisbee Mineral show like?

GemCad Tutorials and How-to by Robert Strickland: GemCad User's Manual; GemRay, GemFrame, and GemFlick Users' Guide; GemCad Print Utility for Windows 95/98

Faceting Information: Grinding and Polishing Alignments, Norm Steele; Crown in Jeopardy, Charles Moon; More Tangent Ratio Fun, Charles Moon; How I lost My Lappy Home, Bill Deazley; Polishing, Ralph Methewson

Articles by Jon Rolfe: How to Build Your Own Faceting Machine; The Model J-2 Prototype; The "Revision X". 6-4 Titanium and 303 Stainless!; Build Your Own Digital Angle Readouts; Charging a New Metal Lap; Basic Lap Making; Casting a Lap

Selected Articles from the NMFG Newsletter: The Prez Sez: Montana Sapphires, Nancy Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, May-June, 1996.; The Prez Sez: Cutting Benitoite, Nancy Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, July-August, 1996.; Diamonds, The Most Complex Gemstones, Merrill O. Murphy, NMFG Newsletter, July-August, 1996.; Surface Characteristics of Some Faceted Gemstones, Many with Polishing History, Scott R. Willson, NMFG Newsletter, March/April 1996.; The Prez Sez: Do you have a surplus of gemstones?, Moss Aubrey, NMFG Newsletter, November/December 96.; The Historical Significance of Turquoise, Nancy L. Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, November/December 96.; Grit Size Paradox, Stephen Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, January-February 1997.; SUCCINITE/AMBER/WHEELERITE -or WHATEVER, Merrill O. Murphy, with dopping advice from Scott Wilson, NMFG Newsletter, January-February 1997.; Merrill O. Murphy, with dopping advice from Scott Wilson, NMFG Newsletter, January-February 1997.; The Prez Sez: Montana sapphires, Moss Aubrey, NMFG Newsletter, January-February 1997.; The Prez Sez: History of American Sapphire Mining, Moss Aubrey, NMFG Newsletter, March-April 1997.; My New Concentric Faceting Machine Design,Introduction, History And Background, W.R. Deazley,NMFG Newsletter, March-April 1997.; The Prez Sez: Recent Developments in Mining and Marketing Montana Sapphire, Moss Aubrey, NMFG Newsletter, March-April 1997.; In the Land of Wax N' Glue, Merrill O. Murphy, NMFG Newsletter, May-June 1997.; More Dopping Tips,Stephen W. Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, May-June 1997.; Update on Synthetic Diamonds, Heidi Ruffner, NMFG Newsletter, May-June 1997.; Program Speaker: Dr. Ralph Dawson, Crystal Grower, by Scott Wilson, NMFG Newsletter, May-June 1997.; The Prez Sez: Gemstone Appeal, Moss Aubrey,NMFG Newsletter, September-October 1997.; Program Speaker: Jane Ward, Diamond Expert, By Nancy Attaway,NMFG Newsletter, September-October 1997.; Briolette Adhesion Technique, Steve Green, Rough and Ready Gems, Inc., NMFG Newsletter, September-October 1997.; Fine Cabinet Makers Don't Use Chain Saws, Stephen Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, November-December 1997.; Planning for Adventures in Faceting, M. O. Murphy, NMFG Newsletter, November-December 1997.; The Causes of Color in Minerals and Gemstones, Paul Hlava, NMFG Newsletter, January-February, 1998.; A Short History of Light: The Spectroscope, Stephen and Nancy Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, January-February 1998; Faceting Pallasite Peridot, Nancy Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, January-February 1998; Yogo Sapphires, By Jane R. Ward (and Nancy L. Attaway), NMFG Newsletter, January-February 1998; Program Speaker: Paul Hlava - The Mechanisms of Color Phenomenon, NMFG Newsletter, May-June 1998.; Program Speaker: Arthur Skuratowicz on the problems encountered during gemstone identification,, by Nancy Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, July-August 1998.; Program Speaker: Paul Hlava - Crystallography and Crystal Shapes, NMFG Newsletter, September/October 1998.; Program Speaker: Douglas Irving, a professional geologic engineer, NMFG Newsletter, November-December 1998.; Program Speaker: New Mexico Orogrande Turquoise, Virgil Lueth, NMFG Newsletter, January-February, 1999.; The Mystery of Gemstone Polish Part 1, Stephen Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, January-February, 1999.; Mineralogical Notes on the "New Tourmalines from Nigeria", Paul Hlava , NMFG Newsletter, January-February, 1999.; Optical Axis Tips, Charles W. Covill, NMFG Newsletter, January-February, 1999.; Program Speaker: Mines, Men, and Minerals - An Update on Mineral Collecting in The Hansonburg District, Michael R. Sanders and Thomas M. Massis, NMFG Newsletter, March-April 1999.; Preston Equation, Stephen Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, March-April 1999.; Usage of Snell�s Law, by Will Moats, NMFG Newsletter, May-June 1999.; Program Speaker: Bruce Bunker: enviromentally-caused fracture and crack growth in glass. by Stephen Attaway and Susan Wilson, NMFG Newsletter, May-June 1999.; Program Speaker: Dr. Jill Glass on "Brittle Material Fracture and Fractography," NMFG Newsletter, July/August 1999.; Selling Jewelry on Ebay, By Will Moats, NMFG Newsletter, September-October 1999.; Program Speaker: Scott Sucher, Replica Diamonds, by Nancy L. Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, September-October 1999.; Program Speaker: Robert Eveleth, Overview of early mining history in New Mexico, by Nancy L. Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, November-December, 1999.; Program Speaker: Mark Guerin, Master jeweler and Watchmaker, by Nancy L. Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, March-April 2000.; Program Speaker: Scott Sucher on the marvelous world of diamonds, Text by Nancy L. Attaway, NMFG Newsletter, May-June 2000.
Let's Talk Gemstones by Edna B. Anthony: Aquamarine; Axinite; Benitoite; Beryl, Part 1 Red Beryl; Beryl, Part 2 Green, Yellow-Green, and Brownish-Yellow-Green; Beryl, Part 3 Goshenite; Beryl, Part 4 Morganite; Cordierite; Dioptase; Emerald, Part 1; Emerald, Part 2; Kyanite; Opal, Part 1; Opal, Part 2; Silicates; Sillimanite; Uncommon Sorosilicates; More Sorosilicates; Staurolite; Topaz; Zircon; Zoisite/Tanzanite

Articles from the USFG Faceting FAQs
Alignment:: Faceting Machine Alignment by Paul Head
Books:: Books about Faceting
Cheating:: Get Rid of Cheater! by Glenn Klein
Competition Cutting:: Competition Cutting by Art Kavan; Cutting and Polishing Against the Stop by Glenn Klein; How to Go from Novice to World Class Facetor by Glenn Klein; Judging Competition with Microscopes by Glenn Klein
Cutting and Polishing CZ:: Faceting CZ by Carl Unruh
Dopping:: Dopping Proceedure by Glenn Klein; Dopping with 5-Minute Epoxy by Jonathan Rolfe; Dopping with Adhesives by Charles Covill; Dopping with Black Wax is not a Black Art by Bob Keller; Dopping with Superglue by Rob Meredith, Blaise Harper and Dianne
Gemstone Design:: Choosing the Best Angles for Your SRB by Bob Keller; Design Principles by Fred Van Sant; Getting Rid of Those Bow Tie Blues by Bob Keller; Idiots Guide to Gemstone Geometry by Fred Van Sant; Suggested Procedure For Executing ISO Brightness Contour Maps by Jack E. Gross; To Compute or Not to Compute by Fred Van Sant
Gemstone Properties:: Properties of Commonly Faceted Minerals and Materials
Guilds:: Faceting Guilds, Clubs and Schools
IFC History:: History of the International Challenge Cup Competition by Glenn Klein
Indicators:: Art Kavan's Facetron Installation by Art Kavan; The History of the Beale/Woolley Depth of Cut Indicator by Marcus Beale and Dave Woolley
Laps:: About Pitch Laps by Fred Van Sant; Charging Cutting Laps and Scoring Polish Laps by Glenn Klein; Audio: Tips On Using A Ceramic Lap by Charlie Hettich (requires RealPlayer); Using Copper Laps to Cut with Diamond by Sumner Olsen; Using the Cermaic Lap by Art Kavan
Orientation:: A Brilliant Experiment by C.W.F.G.
Manufacturers: Faceting Machine Manufacturers
Polishing:: A Faceting Breakthrough for Corundum, CZ and Spinel on Ceramic by Tom Gray; Polishing on Water by Glenn Klein; Thoughts on Polishing with Diamond by Fred Van Sant
Preforming:: Be a Performer, Not a Preformer by Glenn Klein; Best Index Numbers for Ovals by Fred Van Sant; C.A.M. Preform: The Cone by Fred Van Sant; Preforming: What's The Best Way ? by Fred Van Sant
Refractive Index:: Refractive Index and Critical Angle by Bob Keller
Scratches et al:: Scratches from the Master Lap by Dave Wooley Sequencing:; A Method for Sequencing the Crown by Glenn Klein; Sequencing Facets by Fred Van Sant; Sequencing the Crown by Fred Van Sant
Tangent Ratio:: Gemstone Design Conversion Using the Tangent Ratio Method by Bob Keller
Technique:: Cutting by Ear by Bob Keller
Terminology:: Faceting Dictionary by Fred Van Sant

Selected Articles and Gemstone Pages by a Potporri of Authors: Making a Gemstone, Glen W. Probst; Chris and Anne's Concave Faceting Page; Sumner Olsen's Faceted Stones and Eggs

Articles from Perfect Transfer: Faceters Symposium 2000, Bob Keller; Faceting Fascinates, Ruth Chin; Faceting as a Hobby, Jack Christianson; Refractive Index and Critical Angle, Bob Keller; Getting Rid of Those Bow Tie Blues, Bob Keller; Dopping with Black Wax is Not a Black Art, Bob Keller; Gemstone Design Conversion Using the Tangent Ratio Method, Bob Keller; Faceting by Hand, Bob Jones; A Visual Stop for the Graves Faceting Machines, Ken Wetz; Properties of Commonly Faceted Minerals and Materials, Bob Keller; Faceting Guilds and Clubs List, Bob Keller

Rough for Faceters www.facetingrough.com Check Our Specials! Natural: Amethyst Ametrine Bytownite Chrome Diopside Chrysoberyl Citrine Garnet Morganite Petalite Quartz Sapphire Spinel Tanzanite Topaz Tourmaline Zircon
Synthetics: Cubic Zirconia Quartz Laser Gem / Glass Emerald Red Beryl Alexandrite Spinel

Perfect Transfer Index

Table of Contents

Bob Keller