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THE ART OF THE CUTTER
had
a doctor in attendance. This time the gem cleaved exactly as
planned—and then, relieved of the tension, Mr. Asscher promptly fainted.
Even
when a diamond is cleaved the two pieces must be sawed. This is where
the marking comes in. The superintendent may have marked the diamond
even before cleaving, so that he may know precisely what pieces are to
be cut out and how. But let us assume that now we are not dealing with
a four-carat stone but with a one-carat rough stone. The superintendent
studies this stone, usually of the octahedron shape, dips a
fine-pointed pen into a bottle of India black ink and draws one or more
lines on it. This is to indicate to the men in the sawing room exactly
how it is to be placed on the "wheel." What happens will not be the
cutter's fault but the superintendent's if the judgment in placing the
lines is wrong.
So
we follow that diamond into the sawing room. This is a long narrow
glass walled room in which there are about 200 saws, whining loudly so
that it sometimes is difficult to hear yourself speak. Even in Winter
this room is cool and in Summer it is air-cooled and that is because a
warm room may cause the saws to stick against the diamond and be slowed
down. The diamond is so tough that rather than be cut it will take
advantage of anything, even the weather.
Surprisingly
there are only two men in this room attending the saws. That is
because after the initial process has been started the operation is
simple and proceeds with little attention. These saws have the job of
cutting the rough octahedron into two pyramids so that the sawed face
on each can become the table of a gem. The saw is a phosphor-bronze
disk, about 2-1/2 inches in diameter and rotated by electric power at a
speed of about 3600 revolutions a minute about a horizontal spindle. A
curious thing about the thick-
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