# Is a triangular cut diamond made from the corner of a cubic crystal?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-triangular-cut-diamond-made-from-the-corner-of-a-cubic-crystal/247706>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 29, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-triangular-cut-diamond-made-from-the-corner-of-a-cubic-crystal/247706 "2004-05-29T21:16:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-triangular-cut-diamond-made-from-the-corner-of-a-cubic-crystal/247706/1 "2004-05-29T21:16:46Z")

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I have a diamond ring where the diamond is triangular. While most diamond crystals are octohedral, some crystals are cube-shaped, so I was wondering if they start preparing a finished triangular diamond by cutting the corner off a cube. It seems to me that with any octohedral crystal, you would waste too much of the diamond trying to fashion a triangular finished stone.

If not, how do they cut a rough diamond into a triangle?

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-triangular-cut-diamond-made-from-the-corner-of-a-cubic-crystal/247706/2 "2004-05-29T23:29:54Z")

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When they cut any shape of diamond, they waste a _lot_ of it. My understanding, based mostly on a visit to a diamond factor in Amsterdam a few years ago, is that they take a rough diamond, cleave it along flaws, and take what’s left and round it. Then they carve facets out of what’s left, which wastes like half of what they started with. I would imagine that they pick the cut based on the diamond’s natural shape and characteristics so that the finished stone looks as good as possible.

Of course, I am not a diamond cutter and I’m sure somebody who is will come along any moment to tell me all how wrong I am. 🙂