Millgrain tool

I just received my latest Lapidary Journal and upon seeing the work
in there by Pat Garrette I remembered the millgrain tool discussion.
Was the textured area at the tops of her bezels done with a
millgrain tool? If so, would she have burnished the bezels over the
stones and then used the tool or left the bezels straight up so the
top edge would still be exposed for the tool? Are the little burrs
created by the tool helping to hold the stones in? Also the little
millgrain tool in the Rio catalog sort of resembles a mini pizza
cutter. How can it turn tight corners like that and continue to make
a uniform pattern on the curve?

One more question that comes to mind since I’m in the M part of the
alphabet. How do you pronounce “melee?” I’ve heard it melee (mel
rhymes with bell ) and melee ( mel rhymes with seal) .

Net

How to pronounce melee: It’s from the French and is pronounced may-
lay.

I was taught not to millgrain the thread around a corner, but to run
the millgraining tool up to the corner from the two directions of the
corner’s angle.

In Sydney, Australia, most jewellers pronounce melee as ‘mel’ as in
bell, and ‘lee’ as in lay. I don’t know what they do in Melbourne.
(Sydney-Melbourne joke)

Rex from Oz

and I pronouce it may-lee, but then I’m from Texas … Cheers
Virginia Lyons

Hi Net (is this your name?) I’m not too smart about tools, but I’m
pretty sure that melee is pronounced ‘maylay’, as in the month of May.
Frances

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Re the pronunciation of melee, those who say it is pronounced
"maylay" or “maylee” are correct as far as the dictionalry is
concerned, however in the gem trade, according to GIA. it is
pronounced melly, (rhymes with belly). Jerry in Kodiak

I think I’m about to learn something new. How is the word melee used in the
gem trade? Why would it be in the GIA Glossary or dictionary?
Frances

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Hi Frances,

I think I'm about to learn something new.  How is the word melee
used in the gem trade?  Why would it be in the GIA Glossary or
dictionary?

Melee refers to any small, under .20 ct., faceted stones. The stones
can be any shape, round, oval, step cut (emerald cut), or tapered step
cut. Straight & tapered step cuts are also called baguettes or tapered
baguettes. Melee &/or are usually used as accent stones for a larger
center stone.

Another term, ‘calibre’ (pronounced KAL-i-bur or Kal-i-bray) is used
to specify small stones, usually of a different color than the rest of
the stones in the piece. These are also small & generally the same
size. They’re used to add design points to a piece.

From the above descriptions it should be intuitively obvious to the
casual observer why they’d be included in the GIA dictionary.

Dave

Hi Frances, “melee” is used in the gem trade as an analogy for a
mixture. Just as a melee can be defined as a mixed mob of people (the
Oxford dictionary defines it as a mixed fight), so a parcel of melee
diamonds is a mix of sizes and perhaps qualities - an unsorted parcel.
It’s interesting that the Oxford also gives the spelling “mellay” as
an archaic form of the word.

Kind regards,
Rex from Oz

Rex:

Perhaps one of us is confused. Melee is a term for small diamonds,
usually under 0.10 ct. (or as Shane decker says, under one carat).
Melange is the term for a mixture of sizes or qualities of diamonds.
This is what I have always believed at any rate…

Jeff Kaiser, CGA

       Melange is the term for a mixture of sizes or qualities of
diamonds. This is what I have always believed at any rate... 

Jeff, your understanding of a melange is correct. The definition in
the GIA dictionary on Diamonds reads:

MELANGE - Assortment of diamonds of mixed weights and/or qualities,
usually (but not always) in sizes larger than melee. French for
mixture.

Charles Heick