How do I test light leakage at my local B/M

[hearts-arrows_girl]

Since I will be getting my upgrade at the B/M I got my existing stone at, how do I do testing like Whiteflash does, at the store? I want to test for light leakage and see how much fire the stone has, but I can''t tell with the store lighting Their lighting can be tricky. What is a Sarin report? Will stores do these tests for me? (Robbins Brothers). I''ve found my judgment is off under their lighting conditions. And as anyone who know me her knows, I don''t want to get it home and find out it has poor performance. I have to make an informed decision at the store.

 

[kcoursolle]

buy an ideal scope.

 

[hearts-arrows_girl]

Is an Ideal scope the same as a Hearts and Arrows scope?

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/17/2007 9:21:34 PM
Author: hearts-arrows_girl
Is an Ideal scope the same as a Hearts and Arrows scope?

No. An idealscope measures light leakage a H&A scope only lets you see the patterns.

 

[hearts-arrows_girl]

Thanks so much for the info. I have a Hearts and Arrows scope, so I will get an idealscope.

 

[WorkingHardforSmallRewards]

I started reading your posts for some reason and I decided to offer my 100 dollars that may be worth about a nickel:

First, to the ideal scopes:

I doubt that you would be able to use one very well, just as I doubt I would be able to use one very well, but here is a link you can follow with a basic explanation:

basic ideal scop explanation

I am new to this as well but a few things are learned are:

1) You want to see very solid clearly defined arrows through the ideal scope. This somehow allows for greater fire and light dispersion.
2) inbetween the arrows should be little dark slices in a repeating pattern all the way around, these are called "hot spots" and help the diamond sparkle more.
3) Around the edges of the "hot spots" and at the edge of the diamond you will see lighter areas and white "slashes" this is normal and to be expected.
4) The center of the image should be lighter than the rest of the diamond, but not TOO much lighter.

To get an idea of what these thigns look like visit Whiteflash.com

And take alook at some of there ACA ideal scope images. This will show you what to expect in a nice ideal scope image.

Now to the Sarin Report:

A sarin report is when they put the diamond in a machine and that machine measures different angles and percentages of the diamonds. I am sure they can do one for you, BUT:

1) each machine will have different levels of accuracy and ability, thus to really understand the readings requires a bit of work and knowing the right questions to ask

2) if you have a good grading report you dont really NEED to have a Sarin analysis done.


Now if you did enough studying you could take the information from a good Sarin analysis and grade a diamond on your own (after analyzing it''s symmetry and polish) but that requires a lot of work and understanding of a lot of various information, and it is possible overlook something if you tired to do that yourself. That is why it is critical that you only buy a diamond that is graded by a very reputable diamond grading laboratory, as I am sure you know.

Because the most difficult of gradings to really understand is the cut grade (as you discovered when you upgraded your 1.23 ct diamond) It will be vital for you to get a report that has a very trustworthy and easy to understand cut grade. And one that provides a lot of information. I say have all of the information written down by your jeweler and then report ALL of the numbers here on PS so everyone can help you out.

 

[WorkingHardforSmallRewards]

People will probably try to sell you diamonds with one of two types of grading reports, GIA or AGS, if it is something else, just move on. FURTHER to make things as easy as possible and know you are getting a great deal without taking any risk--stick with only:

AGS.

In your situation stick with a "CUT GRADE OF "0": but make sure you can actually look at the actual grading report and know it is from AGS and not an evaluation that somebody there made, you can see some examples at this link:AGSLab.com, if they can't show you this, just move on. Using AGS 0 Cut you can't go wrong, but then you can tell us the numbers and people here can help you decide if it is really the best cream of the cream of the crop or not.

As to the color, I suspect you want to stick with 0,.5,1 (D, E,F), but only you can decide about lower colors.

As to clarity, I saw you were looking at SI1's, which is a great decision but it also requires some knowledge to make a good selection. If you really want to make the process easy choose a VS2 and ask the jeweler if it has any "black inclusions" if they say yes, just move on, you have a big budget and lots of options.

As to understanding SI1's the first thing is to ask: "is it totally eye clean from the top." If they say no, move on.

if they say yes, ask them about the inclusions, I feel that if it has any black inclusion then move on any large feathers that are clearly visible from the pavilion side, or any very large clouds, then move on--I suspect they would bother you too. Otherwise you should be fine I think. And don't necessarily worry if there are alot of inclusions plotted, some of them might be very small, and it might mean that there are alot of small inclusions that are very hard to see with the naked eye--which is better than one large inclusion that my dead grandmother can pick out.

One last question on that is to ask them, will this be hazy or murky at all? Sometimes, VERY RARELY a VERY strong fluoresence can cause a haziness. You shouldn't have to worry about this, but I would ask myself just to make sure.

________

Thus you only look at AGS 0cut, and once you determine a color you are comfortable with (I say don't you dare go lower than G or you might regret it later. A "G" grade is the same thing as an AGS grade of 1.5 for color.)

Then all you have left to do is make sure that it is eye clean from the top, and that none of the inclusions from the side bother you.

Then it is just about getting the cheapest diamond in that size that you can find. Search through all the 2 ct options you have until you find that, and get it, then there is absolutely nothing to complain about until you go swimming. If you have ever seen Seinfeld you know, there is always shrinkage.


(I experienced the shrinkage after only seeing my ff's diamond for a couple of days..unfortunately there is nothing I can do about it at the moment

)

 

[hearts-arrows_girl]

WorkingHard, thanks for the info. It was very complete and easy to understand. You made alot of good points.

 

[Lorelei]

HaG, this link might be handy! https://www.pricescope.com/idealscope_indx.asp