This is a picture of a recut sapphire. I didn't get around to taking a before picture, but it was the typical native step cut. Lopsided, poor meets and a deep belly along with a window.
For the recut I did a concave cut to bring out some more color from a light stone.



The finished stone is 3.12 ct.

Tags: Sapphire

Here's a few photos of some Oregon Sunstone. This is how the stones look in the rough after a little cleaning up. A few of these I have saw cut some of the extra clear material away, just to save on some grinding time.

These first two pieces are from the Dust Devil Mine in Oregon. The stone on the left should have a really nice color once cut. The right could be interesting, or a mess. Sometimes when a stone show 2 distinct colors they mix and turn to a muddy color, or they can remain isolated and the stone could be a real winner. That half the fun of cutting.

These two stones have excellent color and very good crystal. They should cut will no schiller, and a deep saturated color. I'll grind all the outer clear material away first.

These are pretty typical for how the stone look in the rough, with all the color in the center. The top left looks to be the best of these 3.

These two stones are examples of the sunstone from Tanzania. Much different than the Oregon material. The specs are larger hematite flakes. The left stone could be faceted, the right one has so much hematite it will need to be cabbed.

Tags: Oregon Sunstone