Advice on Recut?

[corundum_conundrum]

Hi all,

I was crushing on this sold jerry newman stone:



so I recently bought a 3.1 ct round portuguese cut chrysoberyl that I was hoping to have recut into some kind of asscher--perhaps a simple octagon asscher. However, upon seeing the stone, I worry that since the crown is quite flat, a full recut might result in losing too much size. Since it is already very deep (70% depth), I thought maybe a pavilion only recut with a simple, ray-like pavilion might be a nice compromise. Does anyone know of any simple faceting pavilions that might create something that looks like this Uli design?



Or would such a pavilion just look entirely weird with the existing, brilliant crown?

 

[mastercutgems]

Not a problem if you do not mind the round perimeter instead of the 8 sided one...

You would just do the simple step cut on the pavilion and the more steps you cut the more interesting the optical feedback... There are literally hundreds of designs of rounds in modified step cuts; some complete polish and some with staggering pre-polish and then polish to give you many dramatic effects.

Just google step cut pavilion faceting designs and you should pull up many. That was the fun thing about cutting when I started and entered all those international and national competitions; it was almost limitless on the designs you could use and make up on your own... Plus all the computer generated CAD programs and ray tracing software for faceting could virtually let you cut and see what your designs could do with light before you invested the time and material on a bad design... Oh the fun days of not cutting for a living LOL

Most "native" cut gems use a mix of crown brilliants and step pavilions facets so that is commonplace and I would say 70% of all colored gems are cut in that pattern.

Have fun with it; and I wish you a fun-filled journey... I have done well over 300 rounds in step cuts similar to your idea and any cutter can do them. The larger the stone the better so you can see the details; but something like 6 to 8 steps on a gem that size should give you the asscher effect. The cutter can keep it around 2 degrees difference in each step and easily work that many in.

Most Respectfully;

Dana Reynolds

ASG Certified
Supreme Master gem Cutter
#96cge42

 

[corundum_conundrum]

Thanks Dana,

Your vote of confidence makes me more excited to give the recut a try. It is fun to experiment a bit now and again--while not cheap, the stone was not so expensive that I'd be devastated if the final product is not exactly what I want.