Diamonds posses a very high refractive quality.
This means light entering a diamond is bent within the diamond in the same way that a prism bends light.
This property of diamonds lends the diamond to be cut to enhance the internal light play.
The cutting of a diamond is the faceting or cutting faces into the diamond.
The diamond is ideally cut to optimize the refracted and reflected light from the diamond.
It is the refracted and reflected light from a cut diamond that makes the diamond sparkle.
The correct cutting of a diamond greatly effects its value.
The diamond cutting process is complicated by the hardness of the diamond.
Only diamond can cut diamond.
Diamond cutting started with diamonds being cleaved only along natural breaking lines.
Diamond chips were used to cleave the diamond.
In the 15th century Lodewyk van Berkin from Antwerp invented the scaif.
The scaif is a polishing wheel, with embedded diamond dust and lubricated with olive oil, that is used to polish
faces onto the diamond.
From here the art of diamond cutting progressed.
The twentieth century saw the diamond saw, which used diamond dust and oil come into use.
The diamond saw is capable of cutting a diamond against the grain.
Diamonds no longer needed to be cleaved along natural break lines.
In 1919 mathematician Marcel Tolkowsky calculated the optimum angles to achieve the greatest
amount of refraction and reflection from a diamond.
From this knowledge the brilliant cut, with 58 faces, was derived.
The cut of a diamond and the shape of a diamond should not be confused.
The diamond shape can be round, square, oblong, heart shape etc....
The cut of the diamond refers to how faces are embedded into whatever shape the diamond is.
Shape can determine what type of cut is best for a diamond, but they are still different things.
There are many different types of cuts used on diamonds.
The most common is the brilliant cut, sometimes known as the round or brilliant round cut.
The brilliant cut has 58 eight faces cut onto the diamond.
The single cut or eight cut has 18 faces and is typically used on small diamonds.
The step cut has all it faces with four sides and aligned in steps or rows.
The rose cut looks like a diamond cut upside down with the point at the top and a flat section at the base.
Other common cuts you may hear more of are Swiss cut, Antwerp Rose cut, Cross rose cut,
emerald cut, half moon cut, princess cut, tapper cut, window cut, baguette cut, cushin cut, marquese cut.
These are not a comprehensive list of cuts, as new cuts are still being developed, some with as many as 144 faces.
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