Diamonds and precious stones, a popular account of gems .. . Fig. 113.—Details of a Compartment of the Splitters Workroom. and he knows whether the imperfections are atthe stones surface or at its heart. Very quicklythen he sets to work. He takes a longish woodenimplement or baton, shaped so as to be con- 268 PRECIOUS STONES. veniently held in the hand, and having at one enda ferule extending a little beyond the wood andfilled with a mastic or cement of resin and cement he softens by heating it at a lamp, then. Fig. 114.—The Splitter. embeds the diamond in it and lets the cemen
Diamonds and precious stones, a popular account of gems .. . Fig. 113.—Details of a Compartment of the Splitters Workroom. and he knows whether the imperfections are atthe stones surface or at its heart. Very quicklythen he sets to work. He takes a longish woodenimplement or baton, shaped so as to be con- 268 PRECIOUS STONES. veniently held in the hand, and having at one enda ferule extending a little beyond the wood andfilled with a mastic or cement of resin and cement he softens by heating it at a lamp, then. Fig. 114.—The Splitter. embeds the diamond in it and lets the cement cool,by which means the diamond is firmly fixed in itsplace. With another diamond, sharply edged andsecured in the same way, he cuts a notch in thediamond he is about to split. This notch is of aV shape, and must lie exactly in the direction of thecleavage-plane of the stone—a result which, though DIAMOND-CUTTING. 269 apparently so difficult, is easily attained by the prac-tised eye and dexterous hand of the workman. Abox beneath his work catches the dust, and a littlesieve sifts at once the diamond-powder from theparticles of resin dropped. When the notch is cut deep enough the workmanplaces the wooden baton upright in a hole in ablock of lead before him ; then introducing with onehand the blunt edge of a small steel ruler into thenotch of the diamond, with the other he strikes theruler a smart blow with a steel rod, and the stoneis split. It is not without emotion that one seesthis blow given, for the slightest
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectgems, booksubjectprec
