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Lapidary Hand Tools

Those who practice the art of lapidary have several machines at their disposal to cut, polish and mount gemstones. Large circular diamond saws slice flat slabs off of hunks of agate or quarts. These slabs are then cut up into smaller chunks, then shaped and polished on grinding machines. Hand tools are commonly used to examine or measure stones, or to aid in the actual mounting of the finished gems.

Jeweler's Loupe
- A jeweler's loupe is used to identify and grade gems and minerals. Functioning much like a hand held microscope, most loupes offer an 18 millimeter lens with a magnification power of ten.
  
  Lens optical quality is important. A good loupe will have corrected lenses so that the entire lens will have good focus all the way to the edges. This keeps the gemstone you are looking at from appearing distorted. The best loupes have three lenses that are joined together, known as triplet lenses, which will give the clearest vision and not alter the gemstone's color.
Stone Setting Tools
- Setting a faceted or polished stone inside of a ring, pendant or other piece of jewelry requires tools to both hold and manipulate the stones. A four prong stone holder is used to pick up gemstones. Wire jaws that normally are folded inside the handle, are operated by a plunger mechanism. Stone setting pliers have special jaws made for tightening prongs over faceted stones. A prong lifter is used to gently pry prongs away from mounted stones. It looks like an unmarked ruler with notches on the sides and ends.
  
  A bezel roller is used to secure the bezel, or metal lip, around stones in jewelry. These are used for smooth cut stones such as cabochons. A cabochon is a polished stone, usually in an oval or circular shape that has one large polished surface on the top with a continuous smooth edge.
Calipers
- Calipers are used to measure individual stones. Basic ones resemble a slide rule with a pointed end that can be opened and then fitted around the stone for measurement. A slide rule is a device used in mathematics that predates the calculator. It looks like several rulers stacked edge to edge with a clear marked template that would slide over the rulers. The middle "ruler" would be moved to make the calculations and the template would be moved to see the result.
  
  More sophisticated models have dials that display the measurement or even a digital read out, preferred by those who find the traditional dial models or the traditional slide rule scale difficult to read. The digital caliper is battery operated.

Gemology