The Science record; a compendium of scientific progress and discovery . DIAMOND-CUTTING IN NEW-YORK.—THE CUTTER OR SNYDER. him, the operator placed one of his knives directly overthe cleft. The knife used was nothing more than a pieceof steel, perfectly flat, with a square edge, and about sixinches long. It is ground blunt purposely, for if it werekeen, the hard stone would quickly turn the edge. Tap- 92 SCIENCE DIAMOND-CUTTING IN NEW-YORK.—THE SETTER. ping the back of the blade lightly with his iron rod, theartist split off a fragment, and then, melting his cementand removing the par
The Science record; a compendium of scientific progress and discovery . DIAMOND-CUTTING IN NEW-YORK.—THE CUTTER OR SNYDER. him, the operator placed one of his knives directly overthe cleft. The knife used was nothing more than a pieceof steel, perfectly flat, with a square edge, and about sixinches long. It is ground blunt purposely, for if it werekeen, the hard stone would quickly turn the edge. Tap- 92 SCIENCE DIAMOND-CUTTING IN NEW-YORK.—THE SETTER. ping the back of the blade lightly with his iron rod, theartist split off a fragment, and then, melting his cementand removing the parts, showed us a clean smooth cut.(See Fig. 4.) But is not this a very risky performance? we almostinvoluntarily exclaimed. Suppose that you make a mis-take ? The workman smiled superior, and explained thatsuch is hardly possible, though he admitted that it wouldbe a very easy matter to halve the value of a gem by asingle false stroke. Imagine a $5000 diamond—and thatis not a large one—thus treated ; $2500 irretrievably lostby a single tap of the hammer! But then, with good-sizedstones, the work does not seem so difficult as with jewelsno larger than pin-heads, so small indeed that, in somecases, they number as many as 300 to the carat in the
Size: 1419px × 1762px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubje, booksubjecttechnology
