by The Bruce Fry Tourmaline Collection | Dec 15, 2022 | Cutting/polishing, Personal stories
Chipping One of the most disappointing failures that can happen while cutting a tourmaline gem is for the culet or keel to chip. This can happen after you have partially polished the pavilion or while cutting the pavilion. Which varieties of tourmaline are prone to...
by Bruce Fry Tourmaline Collection | Aug 18, 2021 | Cutting/polishing
Even though the world of diamonds and the world of colored gemstones share only the most basic of similarities, some of the grading of diamonds sneaks into the colored gem terminology. The most egregious is the use of the whole list of acronyms such as VS1 (very small...
by Bruce Fry Tourmaline Collection | Aug 14, 2021 | Cutting/polishing, Personal stories
At age 15, in 1962, I purchased my first faceting machine. I cut a relatively small number of mixed varieties of gems into my twenties. Running out of money for the hobby and facing many other obligations for my time, I did not facet again until a little over 20 years...
by The Bruce Fry Tourmaline Collection | Jul 13, 2021 | Cutting/polishing
A Tourmaline Tale of Sad and Glad by My Lady Pink This report is an attempt to bring the excitement and drama of a youtube video that went viral just a couple of days ago to a wider less connected audience. It focuses on the cutter’s behavior and its impact on an...
by The Bruce Fry Tourmaline Collection | Jul 13, 2021 | Cutting/polishing
Nd obtaining all the colors of tourmaine I I think that nature’s gift and the name, watermelon, given to tourmaline with a core of pink coated in green after a thin layer of colorless crystal is a fantastic combo. It has sold a great deal of low grade tourmaline and...
by The Bruce Fry Tourmaline Collection | Jul 13, 2021 | Cutting/polishing
Size does matter when it comes to cutting and polishing on my small, light weight faceting machine that uses 6 inch laps. This post is about a round that is in the easiest range of sizes, from about 5 mm to 10 mm in diameter. In this size range the gems have tables...
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