Customer Reviews

The Art of Diamond Cutting Second Edition

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I have read many books on diamond cutting but this is truly the best of all.To become a complete diamond cutter one must read this book.

I have been faceting colored stones for a few years and am hoping to start cutting diamonds. The editorial description of the book sounded great "... all you need to know about polishing and production of the popular round brilliant diamond." The book's introduction also looked great and I was excited. I read the book, got to the end, and figured that I must have missed something - so I read it again.

The critical information that is missing from this book is information about equipment. Diamond cutting is an equipment intensive hobby (that is really part of the fun) and is the limiting factor when getting started. I am no closer to knowing what equipment I need, and that is the information that I need to get started in this hobby.

There is a book with a similar title "Diamond Cutting by Basil Watermeyer," ISBN 0 629 30756, that I found online for around $75. This 400 page book far better suited my needs and contained all of the information that I was looking for.

As the vast majority of retail diamond consumers in the world I had no idea of this art. When a diamond merchant reviewed a stone through their loop I wondered what hidden language the diamond spoke. How was quality and value determined.
The author, Mr.Michelsen has given a clear step-by-step in depth guide to the many aspects of "The Art of Diamond Cutting".
Chapter 1, "The Origins of Diamonds" was quite interesting as it revealed the fact and displaced the Madison Avenue fiction of how diamonds are formed, the "rough".
Through the next chapters the author goes through the skills in reviewing the roughs and the stages to bring the stone to the state we recognize at retail. I do have to admit at times I was lost in the stages of the process and had to reread sections. Without any base knowledge I needed to have a starting point established first, familiarity of terms and steps through review made this all clear.
I had no idea of the skills needed, art or science, trained or naturally gifted. One thing is quite clear, the language can be taught, which Mr. Michelsen has shown in this book.
Finishing the book the last chapters leave you the information needed as a consumer to understand the retail diamond environment. Be they the deciphering of what a jeweler actually sees through his loop through clearly stated "classifications" to the geopolitical and regional sources of the stones and how this influences value.
The many "facets" (pun intended) of this world explained in this book by the author was an enjoyable read and provided the information I sought and opened the path for further study.
I thank Mr. Michelsen for this.