My original faceting machine was a Facetron from the mid 70’s and I bought a second unit in the mid 80’s. When, after a long hiatus, I came back to faceting I purchased an Omni. The latter did not work out well and I replaced the Omni with a GemMaster II. In my opinion the GemMaster is the finest, commercially-produced faceting machine available in the U.S. For me, it is a high quality machine that allows for fast and accurate cutting.

Last year I added a Polymetric OMF (optically magnified facet) machine for cutting concave facets. The concave facets, most often placed on the pavilion of the stone, create curved facets that act as lenses, usually dramatically brightening the gem. The process is time consuming, particularly when it comes to polishing, but the end result is generally always worthy of the effort.

Here’s a list of the equipment I use:

Diamond Pacific Pixie Cab Machine (for preforming or making the occasional cab)

Fac-ette GemMaster II Faceting Machine

Polymetric OMF

Standard and deluxe Fac-ette transfer blocks; Facetron transfer block; MagDop; alignment fixture

GMII and Facetron dops (I typically do not use keyed dops)

Bausch & Lomb Stereozoom 5 microscope with stand & FO ringlite (for checking polish and meets)

CUTTING LAPS

100 diamond plated

260 diamond plates

600 diamond plated, 600 diamond sintered

1200 diamond plated & sintered,1200 Nubond

3000 diamond plated (2)

8000 diamond plated (Useless!)

POLISHING LAPS

BATT lap (3)

BA5T

Battwing lap

Greenway

Creamway

Matrix

Darkside Pro

Darkside laps (2)

Lightning laps (3)

Tin laps (3)

Ceramic lap

Corian lap

Last lap

Phenolic lap

Master lap

Assorted ultralaps

OMF MANDRELS

13 mm & 17 mm only:

1200 diamond (2)

BATT (6)

Copper

Darkside (2)

Ceramic

Lightning (8)