For years, I've been using inexpensive Chinese-made industrial diamond tools and grinding wheels to do lapidary (gemstone cutting and polishing) work. It wouldn't be a cost-effective semi-pro...
Exemplary
For years, I've been using inexpensive Chinese-made industrial diamond tools and grinding wheels to do lapidary (gemstone cutting and polishing) work. It wouldn't be a cost-effective semi-pro hobby without them, since an $80 - 100 diamond-plated cabbing wheel might be only be good for 100 - 300 stones depending on material hardness, and it takes a minimum of 3 wheels of gradually increasing diamond grits for shaping and initial polishing. ***You can't even get American-made wheels anymore, but they used to cost 2 - 3 times as much.
We're not at the point of really, really cheap The Diamond Age scale of diamond manufacturing yet, but it's cool to think about the potential.
That’s awesome. Yesterday I read about scientists encoding data in diamonds: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2457948-record-breaking-diamond-storage-can-save-data-for-millions-of-years/ I...
It's been a while since I've shopped for supplies, and was gobsmacked that I could get graded synthetic diamond powder abrasives for as little as $3/gram. Time to start carving fire agates...
It's been a while since I've shopped for supplies, and was gobsmacked that I could get graded synthetic diamond powder abrasives for as little as $3/gram. Time to start carving fire agates again... [Agate is a hard material and you have to remove a lot of it very carefully to preserve the iridescent layers, so abrasive cost is a big deal.]
Ooooh pretty..... Can you recommend a sub $500 method to get shiny pretty rocks out of beach / random rocks? Whether that's buying a lapidary wheels, tumblers, or just taking them to another...
Ooooh pretty.....
Can you recommend a sub $500 method to get shiny pretty rocks out of beach / random rocks? Whether that's buying a lapidary wheels, tumblers, or just taking them to another hobbyist and paying them :p
If you're interested in polishing beach stones and random rocks, and have some patience (like a couple of weeks...), a rock tumbler is the way to do that relatively inexpensively. The Reddit sub...
If you're interested in polishing beach stones and random rocks, and have some patience (like a couple of weeks...), a rock tumbler is the way to do that relatively inexpensively. The Reddit sub /r/RockTumbling has good starter resources.
General tips:
Avoid the most basic "starter" tumblers.
Weigh your stones + tumbler barrel to ensure you don't exceed the motor capacity.
Buy good quality graded grits and don't try to reuse them.
Rinse your stones and barrels completely between grits to avoid putting coarser scratches back.
You'll get shiny rocks, if not the brilliant polish from more laborious and expensive methods.
Pocket Casts link to episode: https://pca.st/8ss45n91 Transcript: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1240892101 Some spoilers for the episode: Spoilers It’s a real diamond, not a fake. It’s not a...
Spoilers It’s a real diamond, not a fake. It’s not a scam. It’s not a one-off fluke. There are many more cheap diamonds on Alibaba. It’s not a blood diamond. It wasn’t stolen. The diamond is the typical size and quality that would be used in an engagement ring.
Episode description from Planet Money:
The deal seemed too good to be true. There's a website that's been selling top quality diamonds at bizarrely low prices. Prices we couldn't find at any retail outlet. Prices so low, we could buy a diamond on a public radio budget. So we did. What we got in the mail was a tiny ziploc bag containing a scintillating mystery.
On today's show: the Planet Money Diamond (or whatever this sparkly rock turns out to be). We get it analyzed by the experts at the Gemological Institute of America. We investigate where it came from. And, we dive into the economics of glittery stones. Was this a new kind of internet scam? Some supply chain anomaly? Or is something just really weird going on in the world of diamonds?
Ahh yes thanks for the spoiler :) I was having fun reading the transcript but then decided to actually listen to it. NPR is a treasure and I hope they survive. Also just gonna leave this here and this
Ahh yes thanks for the spoiler :)
I was having fun reading the transcript but then decided to actually listen to it. NPR is a treasure and I hope they survive.
I normally don’t go in too much for materialism, but if we hit a point that I could afford a classic pointy cartoon-diamond-looking diamond the size of a golf ball to sit on my desk I don’t know...
I normally don’t go in too much for materialism, but if we hit a point that I could afford a classic pointy cartoon-diamond-looking diamond the size of a golf ball to sit on my desk I don’t know that I could resist…
I couldn’t resist a bit of searching after posting that and I found a few 30ct, 20mm diameter moissanites for about what the diamond in the podcast cost, but for the moment at least I am dutifully...
I couldn’t resist a bit of searching after posting that and I found a few 30ct, 20mm diameter moissanites for about what the diamond in the podcast cost, but for the moment at least I am dutifully ignoring my dopamine receptors instructions to impulse buy shiny scientific curiosities.
But moissanites have double refraction, which means your cartoonishly huge gem will cast Rainbow! 🌈 on your desk... When the sunlight hits my ring just right I get tiny rainbows everywhere :D and...
But moissanites have double refraction, which means your cartoonishly huge gem will cast Rainbow! 🌈 on your desk...
When the sunlight hits my ring just right I get tiny rainbows everywhere :D and that was a small gem from 20 years ago. I would also like a golf ball sized gem paperweight
Ok, so, 2 points here. The price of diamonds is artificial - they are rather abundant. There is literally a world-wide diamond cartel that acts to enforce artificial scarcity and, through decades...
Exemplary
Ok, so, 2 points here.
The price of diamonds is artificial - they are rather abundant. There is literally a world-wide diamond cartel that acts to enforce artificial scarcity and, through decades upon decades of marketing, maintain demand. Through this, high prices (and therefore high profit) are (have been until now?) maintained. I do not have difficulty believing that Chinese companies could sell real diamonds for cheap and still profit, so long as they are willing to go against De Beers - and the CCCP has been aggressively protectionist about putting the success of their companies (and China's overall economic buildup) above things like international patent law, so I don't see them having a problem with bucking the diamond cartel.
Diamonds can be manufactured. We have had the ability to produce diamonds on an industrial scale for quite a while now. I, personally, have the original patent application (currently stored with some of grandpa's other effects at my father's house) my grandfather made for a production method for artificial diamond - he made it sometime after the end of WWII if I remember correctly.
Once in a while I kind of wonder if he came up with the original and was first to patent it, but I've never really bothered to investigate, and it's not like I want to pursue lawsuits and patent litigation and an income method... yuck.
Um, just realized it's about to be April 1st in like an hour. The stuff about my Grandfather isn't an April Fools joke.
Hmm, actually curious now and just did a patent search with his name. Not seeing it. I wonder if he didn't file the application - patent protection vs secrecy? Or maybe he sold it and just kept the original documents. Found some of his other stuff though. Apparently he designed an aerial-release bomb and donated patent use rights to the US Government a few years after WWII. Neat.
I went with a lab grown diamond because it was $300 vs $3600 for a natural diamond. I would have wanted a natural diamond for the history behind it, but history is not worth a 10x markup.
I went with a lab grown diamond because it was $300 vs $3600 for a natural diamond. I would have wanted a natural diamond for the history behind it, but history is not worth a 10x markup.
Meh, if you want the geological history why choose a diamond in the first place? There are so many cooler, more interesting stones we don't or can't manufacture. I personally don't care much for...
Meh, if you want the geological history why choose a diamond in the first place? There are so many cooler, more interesting stones we don't or can't manufacture. I personally don't care much for diamonds, but if I ever got one for whatever purpose, I'd definitely choose an artificially manufactured one. They can be manufactured as pure as it gets, and natural diamonds are only that expensive due to insane marketing efforts and established monopolies of an often times cruel and money hungry industry. There's no quality benefit whatsoever in any objective way. The only way I'd be truly interested in a natural diamond would probably be if I happened to stumble across one in nature by chance - which is, to put it mildly, rather unlikely to occur.
I can totally see both arguments, billions of years of geology is undeniably cool, but for me personally “we forged this from raw carbon using science, in a crucible we built to replicate the...
I can totally see both arguments, billions of years of geology is undeniably cool, but for me personally “we forged this from raw carbon using science, in a crucible we built to replicate the mantle of the earth” is way cooler anyway!
I bought a 1ct hearts and arrows for $360 on AliExpress. It tests as a diamond and it looks good; I'm satisfied with it. I wanted it to replace the moissanite stone in a ring, but unfortunately it...
I bought a 1ct hearts and arrows for $360 on AliExpress. It tests as a diamond and it looks good; I'm satisfied with it. I wanted it to replace the moissanite stone in a ring, but unfortunately it turned out the way the ring was made, it can't be done without clearly altering its appearance.
I really don't have a problem with these kinds of gemstones breaking into the diamond monopoly and making the classic wedding gemstone affordable.
My wife and I still aren't fans of diamonds, because we just find them a little bit boring even beyond the super inflated prices, but it's good to know prices are gonna be rapidly undercut for...
My wife and I still aren't fans of diamonds, because we just find them a little bit boring even beyond the super inflated prices, but it's good to know prices are gonna be rapidly undercut for such a stupid, plain gem.
For years, I've been using inexpensive Chinese-made industrial diamond tools and grinding wheels to do lapidary (gemstone cutting and polishing) work. It wouldn't be a cost-effective semi-pro hobby without them, since an $80 - 100 diamond-plated cabbing wheel might be only be good for 100 - 300 stones depending on material hardness, and it takes a minimum of 3 wheels of gradually increasing diamond grits for shaping and initial polishing. ***You can't even get American-made wheels anymore, but they used to cost 2 - 3 times as much.
We're not at the point of really, really cheap The Diamond Age scale of diamond manufacturing yet, but it's cool to think about the potential.
That’s awesome.
Yesterday I read about scientists encoding data in diamonds: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2457948-record-breaking-diamond-storage-can-save-data-for-millions-of-years/
I thought, “That sounds expensive.”
I listened to the Planet Money podcast today and thought, “Maybe not.”
It's been a while since I've shopped for supplies, and was gobsmacked that I could get graded synthetic diamond powder abrasives for as little as $3/gram. Time to start carving fire agates again... [Agate is a hard material and you have to remove a lot of it very carefully to preserve the iridescent layers, so abrasive cost is a big deal.]
Ooooh pretty.....
Can you recommend a sub $500 method to get shiny pretty rocks out of beach / random rocks? Whether that's buying a lapidary wheels, tumblers, or just taking them to another hobbyist and paying them :p
If you're interested in polishing beach stones and random rocks, and have some patience (like a couple of weeks...), a rock tumbler is the way to do that relatively inexpensively. The Reddit sub /r/RockTumbling has good starter resources.
General tips:
Avoid the most basic "starter" tumblers.
Weigh your stones + tumbler barrel to ensure you don't exceed the motor capacity.
Buy good quality graded grits and don't try to reuse them.
Rinse your stones and barrels completely between grits to avoid putting coarser scratches back.
You'll get shiny rocks, if not the brilliant polish from more laborious and expensive methods.
Pocket Casts link to episode: https://pca.st/8ss45n91
Transcript: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1240892101
Some spoilers for the episode:
Spoilers
It’s a real diamond, not a fake. It’s not a scam. It’s not a one-off fluke. There are many more cheap diamonds on Alibaba. It’s not a blood diamond. It wasn’t stolen. The diamond is the typical size and quality that would be used in an engagement ring.Episode description from Planet Money:
Ahh yes thanks for the spoiler :)
I was having fun reading the transcript but then decided to actually listen to it. NPR is a treasure and I hope they survive.
Also just gonna leave this here and this
I gotta propose marriage to someone just to take advantage of these fantastic prices!
You're practically losing money by not proposing at these prices!
I normally don’t go in too much for materialism, but if we hit a point that I could afford a classic pointy cartoon-diamond-looking diamond the size of a golf ball to sit on my desk I don’t know that I could resist…
I mean you can probably get that in glass or synthetic or carbon zirc for cheap today
I couldn’t resist a bit of searching after posting that and I found a few 30ct, 20mm diameter moissanites for about what the diamond in the podcast cost, but for the moment at least I am dutifully ignoring my dopamine receptors instructions to impulse buy shiny scientific curiosities.
But moissanites have double refraction, which means your cartoonishly huge gem will cast Rainbow! 🌈 on your desk...
When the sunlight hits my ring just right I get tiny rainbows everywhere :D and that was a small gem from 20 years ago. I would also like a golf ball sized gem paperweight
Ok, so, 2 points here.
The price of diamonds is artificial - they are rather abundant. There is literally a world-wide diamond cartel that acts to enforce artificial scarcity and, through decades upon decades of marketing, maintain demand. Through this, high prices (and therefore high profit) are (have been until now?) maintained. I do not have difficulty believing that Chinese companies could sell real diamonds for cheap and still profit, so long as they are willing to go against De Beers - and the CCCP has been aggressively protectionist about putting the success of their companies (and China's overall economic buildup) above things like international patent law, so I don't see them having a problem with bucking the diamond cartel.
Diamonds can be manufactured. We have had the ability to produce diamonds on an industrial scale for quite a while now. I, personally, have the original patent application (currently stored with some of grandpa's other effects at my father's house) my grandfather made for a production method for artificial diamond - he made it sometime after the end of WWII if I remember correctly.
Once in a while I kind of wonder if he came up with the original and was first to patent it, but I've never really bothered to investigate, and it's not like I want to pursue lawsuits and patent litigation and an income method... yuck.
Um, just realized it's about to be April 1st in like an hour. The stuff about my Grandfather isn't an April Fools joke.
Hmm, actually curious now and just did a patent search with his name. Not seeing it. I wonder if he didn't file the application - patent protection vs secrecy? Or maybe he sold it and just kept the original documents. Found some of his other stuff though. Apparently he designed an aerial-release bomb and donated patent use rights to the US Government a few years after WWII. Neat.
I went with a lab grown diamond because it was $300 vs $3600 for a natural diamond. I would have wanted a natural diamond for the history behind it, but history is not worth a 10x markup.
Meh, if you want the geological history why choose a diamond in the first place? There are so many cooler, more interesting stones we don't or can't manufacture. I personally don't care much for diamonds, but if I ever got one for whatever purpose, I'd definitely choose an artificially manufactured one. They can be manufactured as pure as it gets, and natural diamonds are only that expensive due to insane marketing efforts and established monopolies of an often times cruel and money hungry industry. There's no quality benefit whatsoever in any objective way. The only way I'd be truly interested in a natural diamond would probably be if I happened to stumble across one in nature by chance - which is, to put it mildly, rather unlikely to occur.
I can totally see both arguments, billions of years of geology is undeniably cool, but for me personally “we forged this from raw carbon using science, in a crucible we built to replicate the mantle of the earth” is way cooler anyway!
Same, and there's nothing stopping me from setting a random pretty beach pebble quartz side stone next to my lab grown gem if I want geology.
I bought a 1ct hearts and arrows for $360 on AliExpress. It tests as a diamond and it looks good; I'm satisfied with it. I wanted it to replace the moissanite stone in a ring, but unfortunately it turned out the way the ring was made, it can't be done without clearly altering its appearance.
I really don't have a problem with these kinds of gemstones breaking into the diamond monopoly and making the classic wedding gemstone affordable.
My wife and I still aren't fans of diamonds, because we just find them a little bit boring even beyond the super inflated prices, but it's good to know prices are gonna be rapidly undercut for such a stupid, plain gem.