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Gem cutting. Once you have a good machine it doesn't cost a lot of money for raw gem quality rough.
I want to cut synthetics since I don't like the idea of a hobbyist screwing around with non-renewable gems... Also synthetics are flawless and can have cool color shifting patterns like ametrine (amethyst/citrine) or even watermelon colored corundums.
I just want to make shiny jems to look at :( I want to cut giant Portuguese cut cubic zirconia and square cut color shifters :(
It's like $2000-5000 for a decent lapidary setup... And that's not counting abrasive wheels.
I often make the same argument against myself for limited resources but ultimately, if the resource is affordable, then it probably isn't rare on the scale that hobbyists would affect it. But then there's helium, which is somehow not anywhere near abundant enough for the low price they charge to fill a balloon. While hobbyists still wouldn't affect the supply that much, I don't like supporting balloons anymore. Weird hill to die on for 95% of people or greater.
Yeah I know and for certain gems like garnet or corundum we're literally never running out. It's things like tanzanite (my fave!) or emerald that are far more worrisome. With industrialized mining we can yank it all out of the ground way faster than we can find new deposits.
Tanzanite might only have the weird and oddly specific conditions necessary for it to form in this one rift in Tanzania.
Does it have a practical use? If yes, I agree with your reservations. If no, then someone is going to buy it to either look at or sell to someone else to look at. May as well buy it direct and preserve it respectfully. But I understand and I do appreciate the group-benefit mentality
I guess it's an emotional reservation. It would be a bit like feeling guilty for eating passenger pigeons and contributing to their extinction, especially if you hunted them and left some to rot because it was so cheap and easy to get more. Once they're extinct you can't help but look back and wince or blame yourself for being part of the problem.
On the other hand, a skilled lapidary can cut a tanzanite with way more care and attention than some commercial gem cutters that are concerned with stone weight and production volume. A lot of big gems end up as windowed trash, where the center of the gem can be seen through like a glass window. No sparkle or reflections because the gem cutter preserved gem weight to charge more at the cost of beauty, and also making the gem lose even more mass later on if it needs to be recut to have proper angles.
If I screw a natural stone up I would feel horrible though. Synthetics are like "who cares you can buy them by the pound"