A Diamond's Hardness

How hard is a diamond? Can they break or chip? How do you avoid getting a diamond that would have a tendency to break?

Diamonds must be breakable, since diamonds for use in jewelry have been cut by something to get them into the right shape. How do diamond cutters cut diamonds if diamonds are the hardest substance on earth?

If we know how cutters do it, then we can avoid doing the same thing. 

It is evidently an impossible task to break or cut something if there isn't  a tool that is harder than whatever it is you are trying to cut.

Try cutting bread with a slice of butter and you'll know what I mean. 

So how do they do it? Diamonds are hard, harder than steel. What do cutters use to cut diamonds? Light sabers?

As a matter of fact that silly answer is not too far from the truth. Lasers are employed to cut diamonds.

Centuries before lasers were invented cutters had to come up with a way of shaping diamonds. They did. And this is how: they would fasten a diamond to the end of a stick, spin it and make the diamond spin very fast. This spinning diamond would make slightly off center contact with another diamond, also on a spinning stick. Once the two diamonds made contact they would wear off the rough edges of each diamond, in effect sharpening each other. This process is called bruting and is still how the initial shape of the diamond is  worked on even to this day. Maybe a little more sophisticated, but essentially the same process. 

In order to get the facets of a diamond cutters are able to cleave diamonds with a forceful blow. This is due to the fact that diamonds, though very hard, are also brittle.

Imagine a square grid of square blocks. And on top of this grid is another grid of exactly the same blocks. Keep imagining layer upon layer of blocks, until you have one giant cube.

This is how the carbon molecules in a diamond are arranged. They are in neat and very perfect rows. This makes them very hard. But if you hit them right on one of the rows, you could dislodge an entire section.

When choosing a diamond for a ring, avoid diamonds that have a mention of a "feather" in the grading report, or diamond certificate. Feathers may sound harmless enough, but it indicates that the diamond has suffered stress along that section, or row, of molecules. That has weakened it in that area and another strong shock to that spot could cause the diamond to fracture or chip.

Send me a message if you want help in finding a nice diamond with excellent quality characteristics.