Has anyone had gemstones cut for them?

[elbowgrease]

Hi Folks

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with getting gems stones cut or faceted for them?

I found myself a nice little colorless topaz over the weekend (has been confirmed now Chris) and I've been told getting it cut in Australia isn't worth what it, as cutting is likely to cost hundreds of dollars and the finished stone would be worth bugger all, however the bloke from the gem club suggested sending them to Thailand to get faceted as they are super cheap over there, and he has sent quite a few over the years to be done and has been happy with the results.

I found this place after a quick Google search

www.lambertgems.com/

They look legit enough but you never know. No minimum quantity either and with whats its likely to cost even if the finished stone isn't worth much it wouldn't matter.

Has anyone ever had any experience with this sort of thing?

Cheers
Adam

[Deleted]

G'day Adam, I haven't dealt with them personally. But a bloke from the coolgardie gem club showed me some really nice tourmaline he had cut from there. He said most of the Asian ones were legit and cheap, but said don't send them to India as you get something else back. The missus tells me lambert gems is the one most Aussies use. They apparently send you the off cuts back aswell.

DD

[someday]

Topaz, cool
Was quite a good size in my books Adam, just a shame it didn't start with D. ;D
Those be the benefits of pre classifying!
Nice score man

[Bobby]

I was a gem faceter once back in the early eighties , the effort to pre-form , dob the stone then cut one side changing lap grades & then re-dob to do the other end , besides getting the angles right for each individual gem regarding refractive index is so time consuming .

There was a women at a well known gem area in QLD who used to offer a faceting service to all the gem hunters that visited that area each winter , they would bring in there stones to get a quote for cutting , she then told them Yes I can get a cutter out of that rough for you give me your stone & I'll have it done by tomorrow .

You can guess whats coming ! most excepted her price .

She would then pick a already cut stone from her inventory of Thai gems , matching the color of the dopes rough .

Next day the suckers was then shown usually a small faceted gem & some waste material , they were told how lucky they were to have their stone cut out from such flawed rough

The locals knew all about this bullsh*t but shut up about it .

[hereskip]

Hey adam I have used lamberts before and they were a pleasure to deal with they will cut your stones and send the rejects back as well. The chap up at seven oaks fossicking place in inverell put me on to them and he uses them himself. The price was good and the stones looked great. the only thing and for me it was a small thing was they choose the best cut for the stone, but you can say that you want eye clean stones only which will cut down the number of stones that get cut or like I did put in a note saying cut the lot sentimental value only. it took about 6 weeks from the day I sent them to get them back but it depends on the amount they have to do. they can also cab the ones that are good enough for cutting just wish I had known that before I sent them. as for price it was awhile ago but it was like $2 per carat of stone and they can go as small as 2mm cut stone I was amazed at how small some were. I remember that payment was easy but can't remember how I did it but they send an invoice via email. hope this info helps.
Cheers
Skip

[carms]

ive used lamberts for sapphires, happy with the results...in the end though you wouldnt know if it was your stone or someone elses but to me i believe it is...too much stuffing around to mix and match off cuts etc ...i wouldnt send a high value stone though but many people have...i also know a person who has gone over and visited the lamberts cutting factory and he was very impressed with the overall setup and company

[donnybrook]

Adam,
There seems to be advice to go to Lamberts by a few of our members. I have no expertise here but a keen interest in gemstones. Years ago I found a few nice sapphires on a lease I had . I lived in Sydney at the time and I took them to a local gem club. They charged a small amount but did a beautiful job. Perhaps also check your local clubs out? There is one in Goulburn that I know of, and there was also one at Penrith years ago.

donny

[carms]

i agree with donny, you may pay a little bit more but if your only looking at cutting a handfull of stones it may not matter to you either way saving a couple of $ especially if there is sentimental value with the stones unfortunatly along with a lot of other things a lot of the really good cutters are long gone or getting very long in the tooth although there has been a slight increase in the interest of cutting in the past few years its not something that many people try to do in there lifetime and it def is an art and some people are a lot better then others at performing there art

[Flying Scott]

I certainly wouldn't send gemstones out of the country to have them cut.
I did have a large Sapphire cut by a professional miner / cutter. the stone was 56 karat, it cut out to 20 Kt and cost me $300 to have it cut.
That was in the early days of my prospecting. I now cut and polish all my own gems. There is cutters out there that will cut your gems for small fee, you just have to shop around. Try a gem club, ask at gem shows
I have been to Thailand many times looking for gem stones I wouldn't trust them
Only my opinion others might have other opinions
the Flying Scott

[sapphireminer]

Hi Adam I live in Rubyvale we have a lot of cutters here they charge from $25-$30 per carat of finised stone. Most stones you can work on 2/3 loss pending shape e.t.c Regards Dave