Beginning Faceting Tutorial on DVD

Coming in under four hours of running time, this 2-disc DVD is quite comprehensive and is designed with the beginning faceter in mind.

In this DVD you will:

• Learn the nomenclature of a faceting machine and its adjustments

• Learn how to facet a Small Round Brilliant, step by step and in real time.

Running time: 3:33
$40.00 including domestic US shipping

As with the Beginning Cabochon Cutting DVD, Jim Barzee and I took great pains to get this tutorial right. We really wanted to make a DVD that for anybody, who had interest and the time and this DVD, would be able to learn to facet.

Let me walk you through the chapters.

In the first section, Jim takes a good bit of time unpacking terms so you may get a handle on reading and understanding what is going on in one of those patterns you can find monthly in Rock & Gem Magazine or various places online. This is very helpful as words such as pavilion, crown and star facets all come into play and knowing the very orientation of where these are in the space of a facet design is very helpful.

Next comes machine orientation. This is good as there are many different faceting machines, but they all basically have the same parts and work in similar ways.

Chapter 3 takes to the demystification of the lap itself. What it made of and how they work. Grit and micron size is summed up in chapter 4. There are a few ingredients for successful faceting and these are preparation and cleanliness. Jim has set us up with these and now we begin to get into the meat of active faceting, which starts with measuring and cutting your preform.

Chapter 6 continues with the reduction of the preform.

The next chapter, 7a and 7b address the pre-polish and the dry sequence.

Chapter 8 is when the project really begins to reveal itself: The polishing and the laying in of the facets.

Now it is time to flip the stone and this is covered in great detail in chapter 9. This is very important to get correctly as orientation is very important and vital for the symmetry of the piece. Jim Barzee gives this to us step by step and he is quite easy to track.

Following this transfer is chapter 10, which is the zero check and re-orienting the stone. From here, we are off with the reduction of the crown. Next we move onto the pre-polish of the crown break and in chapter 13, he covers the crown mains and star facets.

This reads like it is a lot of material and it is. Know however, that you are not watching every second it takes to facet this stone. The editing is such that you get the start and finish of every single stage of faceting with all information in between. Jim Barzee keeps us engaged with tips, hints and his experience throughout the video.

The last faceting work on this project is the facet of what is called the table. After this, we learn how to gently remove the stone from the dop stick and bask in the success of our hard efforts. The last chapter is filled with online and analog resources. This video is a must have for any lapidary library and a go-to for any new faceter.