A FUTURE REQUIREMENT OF BONDED WHEELS

There is one situation in the future where the correct type of bonded wheel, should it be invented, could make an enormous difference to the technological fabrication of diamonds wedding bands, especially the fabrication of gems. Bonded wheels are far superior in speed to the classical scaife. They are also so much more abrasive that whereas formerly the octahedron planes (111) on a crystal were practically totally resistant to a scaife, the modern bonded wheel fairly easily attacks even these (hardest) faces on diamond. Despite all this, the bonded wheels as at present developed cannot be used to polish gems or to shape those diamond cutting tools which require to have a sharp cutting edge. For these wheels, although they do rapidly abrade faces, always seem to chip edges. A gem with chipped edges is just not acceptable. Equally unacceptable is a chipped edge on a cutting tool.

If future research leads to the invention of the right kind of bonded wheel (and both nature of bond and shape of grit are involved, possibly employ of a lubricant needed also), then it may become possible to abrade very rapidly and yet still to maintain sharp unchipped edges. Such a development, if it comes, will make a great difference to the cost of shaped diamonds both as gems and as tools.