Gem and Diamond Workers

What the job really is

Fabricate, finish, or evaluate the quality of gems and diamonds used in jewelry or industrial tools.

At a glance

• Sector: Production
• O*NET-SOC code: 51-9071
• O*NET job zone: 3 — medium preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Examine gems during processing to ensure accuracy of angles and positions of cuts or bores, using magnifying glasses, loupes, or shadowgraphs.
• Assign polish, symmetry, and clarity grades to stones, according to established grading systems.
• Estimate wholesale and retail value of gems, following pricing guides, market fluctuations, and other relevant economic factors.
• Examine gem surfaces and internal structures, using polariscopes, refractometers, microscopes, and other optical instruments, to differentiate between stones, to identify rare specimens, or to detect flaws, defects, or peculiarities affecting gem values.
• Identify and document stones' clarity characteristics, using plot diagrams.
• Advise customers and others on the best use of gems to create attractive jewelry items.
• Examine diamonds or gems to ascertain the shape, cut, and width of cut stones, or to select the cuts that will result in the biggest, best quality stones.
• Immerse stones in prescribed chemical solutions to determine specific gravities and key properties of gemstones or substitutes.
• Hold stones, gems, dies, or styluses against rotating plates, wheels, saws, or slitters to cut, shape, slit, grind, or polish them.
• Sort rough diamonds into categories based on shape, size, color, and quality.
• Secure gems or diamonds in holders, chucks, dops, lapidary sticks, or blocks for cutting, polishing, grinding, drilling, or shaping.
• Measure sizes of stones' bore holes and cuts to ensure adherence to specifications, using precision measuring instruments.

Tools and technology

Angle grinders, Arbors, Bead drilling vises, Belt sanders, Bench refractometers, Business accounting software, Chipping hammers, Crack hammers, Cross peen hammers, Cutting laps, Diamond girding lathes, Diamond grinders

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers
• Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
• Etchers and Engravers
• Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
• Stone Cutters and Carvers, Manufacturing
• Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
• Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
• Cutters and Trimmers, Hand

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 3 (medium preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Gem and Diamond Workers — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.