Reply To: Best Gemstone Material for Practicing Precision Faceting?

[John Mc Keown]

I learned on Topaz, I think some major organizations also use it in their faceting courses. But personally I find it fantastic to cut, the swarf is very smooth so you aren’t going to damage your polish. The results are great too, I find the stones are really bright and clean. Unfortunately not much resale value, especially because most London blue is heated.

I have to say though that I don’t believe cutting synthetic is cheaper, because you loose so much of hours in cutting and consumables, you will almost never recover with synthetics. Synthetics are also much harder than something like topaz or even some of the more interesting quartz.