Local Shoppers Get Suprise With Diamonds
By: Meredith Hillgartner
Updated: December 3, 2012
There is a reason they say diamonds are a girls best friend.
"Every diamond is unique," Peres said. "It is like a person. There aren't two diamonds a like.
"Well everybody has diamonds," Thacker said. "They like diamonds, they buy diamonds, but they really don't know anything about them."
Joe Thacker, owner of Thacker Jewelry, brought in Leon Peres and his team of experts from Ofer Mizrahi Diamonds to show how these stones are transformed from rocks to sparklers.
"It is going to be done the same way," Peres said "because there is no other way to do it. The human factor in cutting diamonds is very important."
The only thing strong enough to cut a diamond is a diamond- that's why they use the left over pieces, called diamond powder, to coat the metal plate they use to shape the stone.
"Contrary to other areas," Pares said. "In diamond cutting it is done in the same way it's been done in the last 50 to 100 years."
Arie Maor is a third generation diamond cutter.
He said it took him a little while to get the hang of it.
"[When] I started learning it took me four or five years," Maor said. "I started with tiny little stones, like half a point and when I got better they gave me the bigger stones."
Maor now cuts stones as big as 20 carats-which can take months to completely finish.
But Peres said what makes Maor so talented is the special shape he gives his work.
"When it runs in the family every diamond cutter gives something of his own personality into the cutting process," Peres said.
