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Sawing
Top: Sawn almost exactly in half for two finished diamonds of very similar weight. Bottom: Sawed off center to achieve two different finished sizes.
Sawing a diamond was not recorded until the early part of the nineteenth century, even though gem stones such as jade, were recorded as being sawn some 1900 years ago. The crude, early method of sawing was an arduous task, taking up to several weeks to complete a single diamond by hand.
Modern sawing employs a rotating thin bronze blade, held by a spindle and driven by an electric motor. Instead of the blade running parallel to the cleavage plane, it has to cut perpendicular to a single grain influence. Distinctly-shaped octahedral crystals are common candidates for sawing since they lay well for two round brilliants in the sawed state. The plane across the diamond crystal is often sawn off-center to obtain two different sizes of finished product. The sawyer (rhymes with lawyer) marks the rough piece with India ink, where the sawing plane has been determined. This is by far the more common method of dividing diamonds today. It is much safer than cleaving and typically, accommodates the desired end result of weight retention.
