Stones I have cut

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Cheers guys - finished another this morning, this one went 3.6 carats but was even harder to photograph.

Most of the Harts range zircs I've cut so far have been pale pink or pale mauve - they cut beautifully but I finally came across a different-coloured one. It looks brown to the camera but to the eye it's a deep purple, similar to amethyst but with red and brownish tones - plum-coloured I guess I would call it.

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Yep, ya gotta be careful of cabbing machine wheels - they bite!! :D

Humph! Bloody stone (plum-coloured one) has an inclusion that has just presented itself - virtually invisible from most angles but clearly visible through the side of the pavilion now. It's not a structural flaw like an open cleavage, it's like a little tiny black crystal with a plume behind it - it actually looks kind of like a rocket being launched.

I guess from a collector/gemmologist/geologists point of view it adds interest. I think it's interesting myself and would like to know what it is - but I hope it doesn;t end up being visible through the crown.
 
Would love to show it Silver but I don't think I can zoom in enough to get a good pic - but maybe a rich collector will buy it for big $$$ and we'll see it in a gem and treasure magazine :lol:
 
Amethyst I hear you ask?

Nope - a 5 carat purple Harts range zircon. Most unusual colour, it varies according to light source from a salmon-tinted purple-plum sort of shade to a straight out purple. Also have a pink one there that is much more strongly saturated than most of them, I have high hopes for it :)

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Cheers Dihusky :Y: :D

The colour blew me away when I came across it - it was just peeking out from under the really crappy surface of the rough and only revealed itself after being worked back on the cabbing machine. Most of them are pale in colour - usually very light pink or mauve - so I cut them for brilliance and dispersion, which they show in spades and so more than make up for the lack of strong colour. But this one I cut to accentuate the colour :)
 
Off the Dop last night, very happy with how it turned out. Rough was 12.55ct, finished at 4.5ct. Not absolutely clean as it has an area of tiny bubbles on one side, below the girdle fortunately. Does what Topaz does best, blings its knickers off :)
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Cut is Akhavan's Ostentatious Oval which he designed for Topaz, another one of Martyz roughs. Ended up at 11 x 9.5mm so a good sized stone that'll be an attention grabber for the wearer.
 
Lefty said:
Damn nice stone Dihusky!! :perfect: :)

Does it have hints of orange in it? :eek:

Thanks mate, yes even with the inclusion it's a beautiful stone. :)

There was a hint of tan colouration in the rough when you sit it beside a light blue, but nothing like what is shows now with the light bouncing around inside, as you turn it it pulls up a rainbow spectrum, with that golden overtone. Martyz's given me a few more to cut, some similar size, some smaller and one 40ct one, all have some sort of colour cast, either the warmer tan or the powder blue so it's going to be interesting when I get them all done. Leaving the big one for last. ;)
 
Another beautiful stone brought to life Dihusky. Cheers mate.
... and Lefty that zircon is pretty special. Fantastic colour that works perfectly with that cut.
Martyz
 
I have been watching this part of the forum with increased interest, after cutting my first two stones under supervision from a mate.
I have bean learning on a Hall machine, I think from memory a Hall 2000 Deluxe, and finding it pretty interesting and lots to learn.

I have an offer tomorrow to go and have a look at a used Hall machine, not sure of the model and know it would not have been used for a very long time.

I am a hands on person and mechanically minded is there anything in particular that I should be looking at on a used machine apart from the obvious.

Cheers for any kind of help for a newbie. Peter
 
Welcome Prooz, my wife and I both have Hall machines, I use a 2000 and once 'tuned in' it's an awesome machine, my wife has an Xtra which is good but not brilliant on the ergonomics, particularly if you have to wear glasses. Both machines have the capacity to produce competition winning stones. In last year's AFG comp a novice scored something like 97/100 for one of her stones and she used a Hall Xtra.

So what to look for:
1. Play in the quill bearings, both laterally and longitudinally.
2. Main spindle bearings, leaking oil and noise, noise is a give away, they should purr. Very easy to replace
3. Bent master lap. Put a dop in the quill, set it on the master lap and zero the gauge, now slowly rotate the master lap. The Dial should not move off zero, if it does you will either need the master re-machined or a new one made. If the master is out/bent you will never be able to cut an accurate stone.
4. If the lap is true, set the quill close to the perimeter of the lap directly above one of the adjusting nuts, there are 3 sitting under the bowl. These are used for lap alignment. With your first position zero the dial, now lift the dop and move the mast base so the dop sits above each of the other nuts and see how much variation there is in the readings. DON'T touch the mast adjuster, all you want to do is move the quill and mast position.
5. The hardest thing to tell is if you have a bent mast, you need a workshop to test this.

Other than those checks there are the obvious like general condition etc. Worth taking a straight edge so you can check hollowing on the polishing laps if there are any with the package, this will tell you a lot about the user, I dress mine regularly to keep them flat, too much hollowing and I'm fighting to keep a stone and the meets accurate.

In general if you have some mechanical 'know how', machines are relatively straight forward to service, bearings are readily available and some common sense goes a long way.

Good luck with your search.
 
THANK YOU, very much Dihusky for your reply and hints on what to look for. I thought your machine must have been a Hall looking at the mast adjuster in your photo.
Hope to see this machine in the morning we haven't talked about price yet, not even sure how old it is. If it does need work and the price is ok, I am capable to be able to do the work myself, I'll post the out come.

Once again thank you

Cheers
 

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