Tim’s faceting technique may need some adjuestment?
Lesson #2 with Kelly Willis and Michael Stoecker was a short but sweet lesson. As I mentioned in my 1st article, the faceting wasn’t going exactly according to plans. My old hunk of glass was lopsided and in all truthfulness, I figured it would take days and days to get that “stone” straightened out.
Re-Faceting – Lesson #2 Begins
After taking some good natured ribbing from Kelly about the crookedness of my “gem”, he had me back at the old grindstone. A tweak here and a few adjustment there on the Selectra-Matic Faceting Machine and I was ready to fix that stone.
The original lopsided hunk of cut glass
The directions were a little different this time. I actually had to cut material away a small bit at a time and then examine the stone to gauge my progress. The idea was to recut each of the 16 Pavilion facets to match the facets on the Girdle without using the dial gauge. It didn’t take long before the stone started looking better. After about 1 hour of re-cutting the facets, both Kelly and Michael got out the jewelers loop and declared “you’re back on track”.
Pre-Polishing the Facets
While the newly re-cut “stone” looked better it certainly didn’t look like a gem yet. I think Kelly understood that I was looking for something more after all this time. He got out the old polishing wheel and showed me how to polish each of the facets.
After 30 minutes of this detailed polishing work, I was standing in front of a nice looking stone. That old hunk of glass was no more. The facets were gleaming, smooth to the touch and even all around. This was the perfect time to call it day. Leaving Stoecker Jewelers with a feeling of accomplishment and “a win” was what I needed. My wife was expecting me home for the thankless job of cleaning out the garage.
The Next Faceting Lesson will Include:
1. Some more detail work on the Girdle..
2. Removing the stone from the dop stick currently covering the unshaped Crown.
3. Reattaching the dop stick to the “Culet/Pavilion” section of the stone.
4. Start cutting the facets that make up the Crown.
