vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com (Lee S. Billings) :
]Of course you can cut round. Well, actually, you "cut" by shaping it into ]something more-or-less round and then grind down the corners and uneven spots.
right. anything cut comes out faceted unless you do something else to it.
]There was a guy at the Gem & Mineral Show doing a demo of how to make spheres ]from rough. His method would be too labor-intensive for beads, but the idea ]someone else mentioned of shaping them on a lathe would certainly work.
and it was beads we were talking about. Mary is trying to keep me safe, but i don't mind admitting i'm the one that started the discussion with her last night. i've "appeared" stupid more than once.
what *i* was talking about are the *beads* that are basically advertised as jasper, amethyst, fluorite, sodalite, garnet, etc. that are ROUND or in *shapes" rather than chips.
i have a VERY hard time believing those are cut, especially for the prices they are going for, and they don't naturally come in nice, smooth shapes like that. some places are actually saying "reconstituted" or "reconstructed" now. most don't. and trying to get a straight answer from a dealer at a bead show can be an exercise in semantics.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
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's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis