Cutting – Summary

Unit 9: Cutting – Shaping Beautiful Gems

From rough rocks to sparkling jewels! These words describe how gems are cut and shaped.

• Chisels – Tools used to cut or shape something hard, like stone.
• Lapidaries – People who cut and polish gemstones.
• Faceting – Cutting flat surfaces on a gem to make it sparkle.
• Brilliant – Super shiny and sparkly.
• Grinding wheel – A spinning tool that shapes gems by grinding them.
• Respirator – A special mask that cleans the air you breathe.
• Cleavage – The way a gem breaks along certain lines.
• Planes – Flat surfaces where a gem might split.
• Cubic crystal – A gem shape with equal square sides.
• Critical angle – The angle where light stays inside a gem to make it sparkly.
• Blend – Mixing things together, like science and art.

International Gem Society

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