Gem magnifier and tweezers
The biggest advantage of gemstone magnifier and tweezers is their low cost, portability, and ease of operation. They are basic gemstone instruments for jewelry professionals and are also essential tools for consumers to purchase gemstones on the market. By using a gemstone magnifier, one can observe whether the gemstone has cracks and whether it is true or fake, in order to prevent being deceived.
For gemstone identification, the use of a gemstone magnifier is crucial, and in many cases, careful observation of the internal and external characteristics of a gemstone can provide a wealth of meaningful information. The magnifier is the most commonly used, simple, and portable gemstone identification tool, and its correct use is also a basic skill for gemstone workers. Gem magnifiers are generally used in conjunction with gemstone tweezers.
Gem tweezers are the most commonly used gemstone holding tools, with grooves or “#” patterns on the inside of the tweezers to hold and fix gemstones.
The commonly used gem magnifier consists of two parts: a bracket and a lens (as shown in Figure 1). A 10x magnifier is generally selected for gem identification.
Bracket: Generally made of metal material, it can be closed and opened to protect and support the lens;
Lens: The lens of the gem magnifier is a triple combination lens (as shown in Figure 1), which is composed of a convex lens in the middle and a concave-convex lens on each of the upper and lower sides.
Figure 1 The structure of a gemstone magnifier
Features of gem magnifier: wide field of view, no image distortion, no color edge phenomenon.
Gem tweezers
Gem tweezers are generally made of stainless steel or titanium alloy (as shown in Figure 2). The clamping part of the tweezers has “#” anti-slip patterns to facilitate clamping of gems. The middle part of the tweezers has “∥” patterns to facilitate the operator to grip the tweezers.
How to use gem magnifier and tweezers
- Clean the gemstone and loupe with a soft, lint-free cloth to avoid mistaking dust for surface features of the gemstone specimen.
- Hold the magnifier in one hand and hold the gem with tweezers in the other hand. Bring the magnifier close to your eyes, about 2.5 cm away; keep your eyes open and the gemstone sample about 2.5 cm away from the magnifier (as shown in Figure 3).
- Magnifier holding posture(as Figure 3).
- Use your lefthand (for those who are used to observing with your left eye) to hold the magnifier. The magnifier can be put on the index finger and pinched between the thumb and middle finger. Use tweezers in your left hand to hold the sample, and then place the tweezers between the middle finger and ring finger of your right hand, and let the left and right hands lean on each other.
- Hand holding a magnifier close to face.
- Fine tune the distance between the gemstone and the lens (working distance) to observe the surface and internal features of the gemstone. First observe the surface of the gemstone, then observe the internal features, and pay attention to multi-directional observation. Adjust the working distance at any time to ensure clear focus.
- After observation, rotate the magnifier into the metal frame to prevent damage.
Figure 3 How to hold a gemstone magnifier and tweezers
Precautions
1. When using a magnifier, both eyes should be open at the same time to avoid eye fatigue caused by prolonged observation.
2. The observer wearing glasses can place the magnifier close to the glasses.
Examples of gem identification features that can be observed with a gemstone loupe
Figure 4 Edge ghosting
Figure 5 Surface damage
Figure 6 Internal inclusions and surface damage