I am familiar with tool setting in lathes etc and machining to fine tolerances
If you're a machinist then you are starting with a bit of an advantage already i think :Y: After all, faceting is basically just machining little tiny rocks
You'll probably pick up the concepts pretty quick.
1/ how good does your eyesight have to be.....can you use magnifying glasses
As long as they aren't totally shot (ie, macular degeneration or something) then most people probably have eyesight perfectly good enough to facet. I know people who have turned 80 and can still turn out an accurate stone. All cutters regardless of how good their eyesight is use loupes - magnifying glasses. You can wear head loupes, like a strong pair of glasses and you can also use a hand-held one (yes, I still use one of those!)
2/ do you fossick for you stones or do you buy them
I do both. I love fossicking and there's something special about taking a stone you found yourself and turning it into a finished gem. But quality gem rough is also available from suppliers (without the blisters and backaches
). Glen Huntly is based in Sydney and sells excellent faceting rough, as do a number of others. High quality rough does cost a few $$$ but it's worth it. Of course, synthetic rough is cheap and make great practice material and looks good too.
3/what sort of faceting machine would you recommend to self learn on
I think everyone would probably reccomend something different there, based on personal experience
I have a VJ - they are a top-of-the-range machine but you will always pay for high quality and they are pretty pricey (between $4000 and $5000 new last I looked). I started learning on an old Gemmasta - it would have been 20+ years old but it still turned out a nice, accurate stone. Hall, Graves and Ultra-tec are other well-known brands. VJ only makes the one model but some of the others make several, ranging from a smaller, less-expensive basic model up to flashier and pricier ones. I think the basic models will probably still do a good job and be ideal to learn on. Aussie Sapphire, Gemcuts and Shell-lap are all Australian based suppliers and all carry faceting machines. A well cared for second hand machine can also be pretty much as good as a new one, so long as it's not so old that you can't get replacement parts.
4/ where do you get your cutting patterns from
5/ good books/forums/you tube to look for
There are literally thousands of cutting diagrams/designs freely available on the web. FacetDiagrams.org has about 5000, well over 1000 of which are open and available. Bob's Rock Shop has some good ones, though his website is always running out of bandwidth so if you see one you like you need to copy it quick before the site goes down again :/ The Gemology Project has some excellent ones as well, most of them are more modern designs.
So there's definately no shortage of freely available designs out there!
Most people start by cutting a
Standard Round Brilliant as their first stone. It might look like there's a fair few little flat surfaces to accurately place but as long as you stick to the instructions, everything sort of just falls into place. Other shapes and designs can offer more complex challenges.
The only books I have are by Glen and Martha Vargus - "Faceting for Amateurs" plus one of their collections of faceting diagrams. It was a good book in it's day and still interesting and probably useful but it's getting pretty dated, published in the late 70's I think.
John Broadfoot and Tom Herbst both have instructional books for beginners but I haven't read them. I think there is an "Online Faceting Academy" but you have to sign up for membership. If you have a local lapidary club, you can often learn the basics there - again, you have to join up.
Faceting is a lot of fun and very satisfying (as well as frustrating at times) and I highly reccomend it :Y:
Cheers
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