How to become a Gem and Diamond Worker 2024

Gem and Diamond Worker Fabricate, finish, or evaluate the quality of gems and diamonds used in jewelry or industrial tools.

Gem and Diamond Worker is Also Know as

In different settings, Gem and Diamond Worker is titled as

Diamond Cutter
Diamond Grader
Diamond Picker
Diamond Polisher
Diamond Sawer
Diamond Setter
Facetor
Gemologist
Lapidarist

Education and Training of Gem and Diamond Worker

Gem and Diamond Worker is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Gem and Diamond Worker

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Education Required for Gem and Diamond Worker

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Gem and Diamond Worker

Training Required for Gem and Diamond Worker

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Gem and Diamond Worker in different industries are

What Do Gem and Diamond Worker do?

Examine gems during processing to ensure accuracy of angles and positions of cuts or bores, using magnifying glasses, loupes, or shadowgraphs.
Assign polish, symmetry, and clarity grades to stones, according to established grading systems.
Estimate wholesale and retail value of gems, following pricing guides, market fluctuations, and other relevant economic factors.
Examine gem surfaces and internal structures, using polariscopes, refractometers, microscopes, and other optical instruments, to differentiate between stones, to identify rare specimens, or to detect flaws, defects, or peculiarities affecting gem values.
Identify and document stones' clarity characteristics, using plot diagrams.
Advise customers and others on the best use of gems to create attractive jewelry items.
Examine diamonds or gems to ascertain the shape, cut, and width of cut stones, or to select the cuts that will result in the biggest, best quality stones.
Immerse stones in prescribed chemical solutions to determine specific gravities and key properties of gemstones or substitutes.
Hold stones, gems, dies, or styluses against rotating plates, wheels, saws, or slitters to cut, shape, slit, grind, or polish them.
Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality.
Secure gems or diamonds in holders, chucks, dops, lapidary sticks, or blocks for cutting, polishing, grinding, drilling, or shaping.
Locate and mark drilling or cutting positions on stones or dies, using diamond chips and power hand tools.
Place stones in clamps on polishing machines and polish facets of stones, using felt-covered or canvas-covered polishing wheels and polishing compounds such as tripoli and rouge.
Lap girdles on rough diamonds, using diamond girdling lathes.
Measure sizes of stones' bore holes and cuts to ensure adherence to specifications, using precision measuring instruments.
Select shaping wheels for tasks, and mix and apply abrasives, bort, or polishing compounds.
Split gems along pre-marked lines to remove imperfections, using blades and jewelers' hammers.
Regulate the speed of revolutions and reciprocating actions of drilling mechanisms.
Replace, true, and sharpen blades, drills, and plates.
Secure stones in metal mountings, using solder.
Dismantle lapping, boring, cutting, polishing, and shaping equipment and machinery to clean and lubricate it.
Regrind drill points, and advance drill cutting points according to specifications for channel depths and shapes.

Qualities of Good Gem and Diamond Worker

Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.

Tools Used by Gem and Diamond Worker

Angle grinders
Arbors
Bead drilling vises
Belt sanders
Bench refractometers
Chipping hammers
Crack hammers
Cross peen hammers
Cutting laps
Diamond girding lathes
Diamond grinders
Diamond saws
Digital balances
Digital calipers
Digital micrometers
Digital polariscopes
Digital still cameras
Faceting machines
Gem drills
Glass bevelers
Glass cutting saws
Glass polishers
Grinders
Handheld magnifiers
Inspection microscopes
Jewelers kits
Jewelers' hammers
Jewelers' loupes
Jewelers' mandrels
Lapidary slitters
Lapidary units
Laser engraving tools
Mini bench vises
Mini drills
Mini hand clamps
Optically magnified facet machines
Piezo microtorches
Polishing laps
Polishing wheels
Precision file sets
Precision rulers
Precision tape measures
Revolving saws
Ring saws
Rock picks
Specific gravity liquid sets
Spectrophotometers
Sphere machines
Steam cleaners
Stone polishers
Thermal conductivity testers
Trim saws
Ultrasonic cleaners
Ultraviolet UV lights
Vibrating laps
Vibratory tumblers

Technology Skills required for Gem and Diamond Worker

Business accounting software
Gem identification databases
GemCad
Inventory tracking software
Jewelry design software
Spectrophotometer analysis software
Web browser software

US Universities

How to become Gem and Diamond Worker in 2024