For certain gemstone cutting jobs, diamond wire saws can be a useful alternative to conventional blades, especially when material conservation and a narrow kerf are important.
I’ve found that wire tension, diamond specification, cutting speed, and coolant all affect the quality of the cut. With valuable or brittle stones, maintaining a controlled feed is usually more important than trying to maximize cutting speed.
This diamond wire saws reference covers diamond wire options used for precision cutting applications.
Has anyone here found diamond wire preferable to a conventional lapidary blade for particularly valuable or irregularly shaped stones?