I have a 5 carat Emerald that I am going to be making a ring
for. The crown and table facets are abraided. I would like to
have it polished before setting it in the new mounting. Are
there any inherant or extra risks in polishing an Emerald. I
know the inclusions make them more fragile than other stones but
I don’t know about the risks of polishing. It is an oval stone
that is medium light in color and not heavily included. There
are also 2 shallow black inclusions on the girdle. If it is too
risky we can skip the polishing . It would look a lot nicer
polished though.
Thanks
Ray
Ray, I won’t get into the requirements for repolishing the
emerald as I am not a lapidary, but in any stone as inherently
fragile and as frequently treated (oiled and fracture filled)
there is always a risk in repolishing. If this is a customer’s
stone you need to protect yourself and warn them of the inherent
risks and have them sign something that states that they
understand the risk before you do anything. Actually you should
have them sign off on the risks inherent in setting the stone in
a new piece as well. Better safe than sorry.
hi ray, i wouldn’t know about your stone in particular, however
i’ve had badly chipped and abraded emeralds with horrible risky
looking cleavage going thru most of the stone recut with no
problem. it would be safest to inform the customer that all stone
recutting has certain risks.
best regards,
geo fox