Kunzite a Faceting journey
The Pink Challenge: Why Faceting Kunzite Tests Your Patience (and Your Nerves)
Shutterstock
Explore
If you are a lapidary artist, you know the specific thrill of putting a new piece of rough on the dop. You analyze the color, the clarity, and the shape. But when that rough is Kunzite, that thrill is often accompanied by a distinct sense of dread.
Beautiful, glowing, and affectionately known as the "evening stone" for its tendency to fade in sunlight, Kunzite is a gem that demands respect. Why? Because cutting it feels less like working with stone and more like trying to facet a bundle of raw spaghetti.
The "Stack of Straws" Nightmare
Kunzite (the pink variety of Spodumene) is notorious in the faceting world for its perfect cleavage. While many stones have cleavage planes, Kunzite’s are particularly unforgiving.
Imagine holding a handful of drinking straws tightly in your fist. If you try to cut across them, they hold their shape. But if you try to slice parallel to them, or apply pressure from the wrong angle, the straws simply separate and fall away from each other.
This is exactly how Kunzite behaves.
The Structure: Its crystal structure is essentially long, parallel fibers.
The Risk: As you grind and polish, the vibration and heat can cause the stone to split cleanly apart along these planes.
The Result: You might be polishing a nearly finished pavilion when—pop—a huge flake separates, ruining your meet points and shrinking your stone in an instant.
The Secret to Success: Tilt the C-Axis
So, how do you keep this temperamental beauty from falling apart on the lap? The secret lies in orientation.
Standard wisdom in faceting often dictates placing the table (the flat top of the gem) perpendicular to the C-axis (the long axis of the crystal) to maximize yield or color. With Kunzite, however, placing the table directly perpendicular to the cleavage planes is asking for trouble. It exposes those "straw openings" directly to the polishing force.
The "Just Off" Technique
Experienced cutters have found a sweet spot: Place the table just off the C-axis.
By tilting the stone slightly so the table is not perfectly parallel to the C-axis, you are essentially cutting across the "straws" at a slight angle rather than straight down into them. This slight bias locks the fibers together more securely, reducing the chance of the surface peeling or pitting during polishing.
Speed Kills: The Art of Going Slow
Once you have your orientation correct, the second rule of Kunzite club is: Slow down.
Kunzite is heat sensitive and vibration sensitive.
Use a fine grit: Avoid aggressive coarse laps that create heavy vibration.
Cool water: Keep a steady drip of water to prevent heat buildup (thermal shock will crack it instantly).
Polishing: When it's time to polish, slow your lap speed way down. High-speed friction generates heat and drags on those cleavage planes.
Conclusion: The Reward is Worth the Risk
Cutting Kunzite is not for the faint of heart. It requires a gentle hand, a strategic setup, and infinite patience. But when you finally pull that stone off the dop, and you see that electric, violet-pink glow without a single cleavage fracture? That is a badge of honor every faceter should wear proudly.
