Natural Industrial Diamond Supplier
From transportation to electronics, medical to machinery, Lieber & Solow proudly supplies natural industrial diamonds to customers nationwide and even globally! Natural industrial diamonds are the material of choice for tool manufacturers and end-users requiring optimum results. Every item and every price point brings maximum efficiencies to your manufacturing process. When you use natural diamonds, you maximize the strength and life of tooling equipment. Which leads to the item becoming more profitable.
For material processing and sciences, mining and exploration, high tech, and traditional industrial applications, Lieber and Solow are on the front line of the industry. We deliver consistent assortments of natural industrial diamonds and understand what makes the best diamonds for tool manufacturing and other industrial processes.
As a natural industrial diamond supplier, we maintain a complete inventory for on-time delivery. So please, do not hesitate to reach out to us today for more information on all our natural diamonds. When you reach out, we can go over the various price points for these diamonds. Fill out a contact form today!
The girdle of a diamond is one aspect that plays a large role in the price point of a natural diamond. Let’s take a look at some of in-depth details regarding the girdle of a diamond. When it comes to the anatomy of a diamond, the girdle plays a part in determining the price of it. When you turn to Lieber & Solow, you will get the most from your money!
What is the Girdle?
Let’s start with the basics. The girdle is the thin belt that is around the widest part of the diamond. It does not cover much surface area, but it is still very important to the overall proportion of the diamond. If the girdle is cut too thin, then it becomes a knife-edge and chips easily. But if you cut it too thick, then the diamond will gain weight without actually looking bigger. This will inevitably drop the price of the diamond and make it less appealing. The ideal girdle thickness is between 3 to 3.5% of the total depth percentage. What is the total depth percentage, you ask? Let’s get into that next!
Total Depth Percentage
The total depth percentage tells us if the diamond is over or under weight. Graders of diamonds calculate it by dividing the average girdle diameter by the table to culet length (or height) of the diamond. Then multiplying it by one hundred. The ideal total depth percentage ranges between 57.5% and 63%. And diamond with a total depth percentage below 55% may have shallow crowns, shallow pavilions, thin girdles, or a combo of those features. And if the total depth percentage is over 65%, then it may have steep crowns, steep pavilions, thick girdles, or a combination of them. When a natural diamond is outside that range, it effects the price point.
Types of Girdles
When it comes to natural industrial diamonds, the girdles can be in one of three ways. Bruted, polished or faceted. Each one offering different features for the end result of the diamond.
- Bruted Girdles: This is when the girdle is rounded by abrading against another diamond. Bruted girdles have a frosty look and a grainy, sugar-like texture. This texture helps to separate natural diamonds from any imitations. One downside of a bruted girdle is that feathers or tiny cracks sometimes form along the girdle during the rounding and abrading process.
- Polished Girdles: A clear and smooth polished girdle becomes one large facet that allows viewers to see into the stone.
- Faceted Girdles: Faceted girdles are what most high-quality stone exhibit and have numerous facets all along the edge. All faceted diamonds are first bruted. Any tiny feathers or cracks formed during the bruting process are later removed during the faceting process. Due to this, faceted girdles take more time to create and may even result in a fraction loss of weight. However, the end result is a cleaner and more finished, thus raising the price point. And the girdle itself is usually not noticeable to the naked eye unless the diamond is extremely large or the girdle is unusually thick.
Painting and Digging Out
There are times the girdle is uneven and some portions are simply thicket than others. When this happens, gem cutters may deliberately cut the girdle this way in order to save weight. This method is called painting. In other cases, the cutter may cut the girdle extremely thick to later cut away parts that contain unattractive inclusions. This method is called digging out.
Both of these methods create an unevenly scalloped girdle and can change the face-up pattern of the diamond. Severe painting causes the diamond to have larger flashes of white, which makes the pattern of the diamond appear bland and uneven. And severe digging out causes some of the lower crown facets to look dark, which makes the diamond look smaller.
The Gemological Institute of America has grades for painting and digging out. Those grades are:
- Negligible
- Moderate
- Significant
- Severe
Girdle Inscriptions
One last feature of the girdle is that that are where the inscriptions go. So if a diamond has an identification number, then it is laser inscribed here. The inscription identifies and matches the diamond with a specific grading report, which helps with the filing and selling of particular diamonds.