Just Ask Jeff

If you need some help or advice with a faceting related problem e-mail me. I publish answers to the most frequently asked questions here. There's often more than one way to go about getting something done with faceting as most other things. Here's what works for me and chances are pretty good it will work for you too:

Buying Gemstones
Buying Gemstones in Afghanistan?

Clubs
What faceting clubs and guilds do I support? Why?

Conversions
Weight and length conversions... What is what?
How are grit/mesh/micron related and what is what?

Design Questions
What is a Barion?
What is a Princess cut?
What L/W mean and what is it used for?
What is Tangent Ratioing? What is your opinion?
What is Face up Brightness and Tilt Brightness?
Does an Apex Crown help with Tilt Brightness?
Do I need high tilt brightness, BOG, and high ray trace numbers for a good design?
Common Questions - Designs and Designing Part #1
Common Questions - Designs and Designing Part # 2
Common Questions - Designs and Designing Part # 3
Odd Symmetry designs... Better, worse, or just different?
Do designs with split mains and/or odd symmetry have more performance than other designs?
Gemray or GemrayX... Which is best?
Gemray or GemrayX... Head shadow or not?

Dopping Questions
Do you recommend wax or glue for dopping?
How do I get started dopping with wax?
What kind of alcohol should I use?
How do I clean dops?
Re-dopping a stone... How do I do it?
How do I dop a heat sensitive stone with super glue?
How do I transfer a heat sensitive stone with super glue to a new dop?

Equipment Questions
What do I do if I think my machine is out of alignment?
Do I really need dial indicators, strain gauges, down lights, digital read outs...?
Why don't you carry all types of products and equipment?
Wonder why manufacturers are going out of business and getting product support is difficult?

Faceting Machines - Buying
What is a good Faceting Machine to start with?
What Faceting Equipment do I need to get started?
Buying a used faceting machine... Some things to look for...
Buying a Faceting Machine? What Machine?
Questions you need to ask when buying a digital Faceting Machine?

Faceting Machine Reviews
Facetron Faceting Machine
Graves Faceting Machine
Here is a virtual tour of the Ultra Tec factory
OMNI Faceting Machine
Ultra Tec Faceting Machine

Gemstone Cutting Questions & Examples
Cutting Sapphires - "Simple Heart"
How do I cut a stone with different colors on different axis's?
Cutting Simple Portuguese...
Cutting "Classic 1" for Michael Hing's Jubilee Project
Simple orientation... Not always?
How thick should my girdle be?
What is a Master?
Cutting - "Heart Squared" a true checker board heart
Everybody looses a stone once and a while
What do I do with dark saturated rough?
Does sensitivity (stress) exist in rough?
Should the Crown or Pavilion be cut first?

Gemstone Grading and Color Questions
GIA Gemstone Grading System
Common Sense Gemstone Grading by Jeff R. Graham

Gemstone Tools
What is a Dichroscope and how do I use it?
What are complimentary colors? What's a color wheel?

Gemstone Treatment Questions
Is all of that Citrine and Amethyst real?
Are all Emeralds treated and what is your opinion?
What is the True Color of Aquamarine? How is it Heated?
Are all of those stones real?
What is the difference between Man-Made, Created, and Synthetic materials?
The continuing questionable Andesine story...?
Labradorite? What is it? Value and marketing issues...

How Do I Get Started Questions
How do I find a club in my area?
What are good books to start with?
What type of stone should I cut first?
Can I start to learn to facet with man-made Quartz? Should I?

How Do I Get In the Gemstone Business Questions
Are the Gemological courses worth taking?

Identifying Rare Gemstones
What does the African "Pariaba" Toumaline look like rough?
What does a top color change Garnet look like?
What does Siberite Tourmaline look like?

Kraftwerks 2003
I was a featured Kraft Master at the 2003 "Kraftwerks" being held in Ontario California at the Precious Metals West factory. Here is their website www.thekraftwerks.com
Robert casts some Platinum
Bob Lynn - CAM/CAD with Solidscape
Mokume Metal Techniques with James Binnion
Precious Metal Clay with Carl Stanley
Precious Metal Clay with Carl Stanley Part #2

Kraftwerks 2004
2004 "Kraftwerks" held in Ontario California at the Precious Metals West factory
Black Jade carving by Jason Penn
Milling Platinum Sterling (925) - A New Alloy
Casting Platinum Sterling (925) - A New Alloy
Enameling by David C. Freda

Lap Questions
What is my opinion on laps? What do I use?
Do I really need to score polishing laps and if so how?
What is a Last Lap and how do I use it?
What is a Spectra (Ultralap) Lap? How do I use them?
Do I need a ceramic lap and how do I get it to work?
Care and treatment of Laps
What are sintered laps and are they worth the money?
Contaminated Laps? Bort Charging Laps?
What are Friable Diamonds Polishes?

Making Money Faceting Questions
Can I make money faceting?
What stones make money?
Is stone size important when cutting for money?
Should I do repair work on gemstones, what is your opinion?
How do I start selling to jewelers?
How do I buy rough that I can cut and make money on?
How can I be sucessful in the Gemstone Business?
Gem rough is expensive... Why? Is it really? How about some perspective...
How many stones can a person cut? How many to make a living?
What rough can I make money on? How do I figure it out?
How do I get the best yield from a crystal? How do I figure it out?
Etiquette... Gemshows and every where else?
You will sell only what you cut... Natural gemstones or man-made?
You will sell only what you cut... Some pointers.
Can I make money cutting that rough?
Basic Rules of Business and developing a good relationship - Part# 1
Basic Rules of Business and developing a good relationship - Part# 2

Polishing Questions
How do I polish Quartz & Beryl?
How do I polish Kunzite (Spodumene)?
How do I polish Tourmaline & Garnet?
How do I polish Halite?
How do I polish Sapphires?
Diamond or Oxide Polish?
What are Friable Diamonds Polishes?

Pricing Stones Questions
How do I price my stones?
What is your opinion of Pricing Guides?
How do I figure rough cost?
I sold a stone to a jeweler and later found out he made a killing on it... Am I too cheap?
Carats vs. Grams? Which is best?

Rough Questions
How do I tell where the "c" axis on Topaz is and orientate it?
What is CZ?
What is the White Paper Test?
Are all Sapphires Blue?
Why does rough cost almost as much as commercially cut stones sometimes?
Why is some rough stone like Topaz the same cost of cut stones?
How does the supply of gemstones and rough actually work?

Tucson (and others) Gem Show Questions
Jeff's Tips for the Tucson Gem Show... Equipment
Gemshows... Tucson In Particular
Jeff's Tips for buying at the Tucson Gem Show
What is the Bisbee Mineral show like?
2004 Tucson Gem Show Report
2005 Tucson Gem Show Report
2006 Tucson Gem Show Report
2007 Tucson Gem Show Report
Planning to come to the Tucson February Gem Show... How? What? When?
2008 Tucson Gem Show Report