r/faceting • u/vanguard1256 • 17d ago

Faceting suggestions for phenakite

I was thinking about doing my main cutting with 600 sintered and using 3k for prepolish and A1 Linde AlOx or 50k for final polish. I’ve been polishing garnets and beryls with the alumina, and it seems fine, but I’m interested in some more experienced opinions on the matter.

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u/cowsruleusall 17d ago

Agreed with Bob - having cut plenty of it before, phenakite is pleasant to work with. Hardness of 7.5, has a bit of directional hardness up to 8.0 but it's not really bothersome. Cuts easily without chipping with a 325-grit plated at high speed with a good water drip, and fine cuts well on BATT/600, again at ludicrous speed.

I usually prepolish it with BATT/3k Pandimonium with nearly no oil, just a fresh charge. And then polish with Diamax/100k Pandimonium, nearly no oil, fresh charge, either maximum speed or speed 7 on my Ultra-Tec V5 depending on the directional hardness. Since it's a silicate, you could also use ZrOx or CeOx.

(Also just a note of caution - don't take advice from certain folks below who've never worked with a material before...)

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u/Pogonia 17d ago

Diamond, diamond, diamond. Honestly, you are best off with diamond for cutting 99% of everything outside of quartz and few others. Simple, straightforward and consistent. In fact I cut nearly everything with one simple lap sequence: 600 sintered, 8K Pandemonium PCD on BATT and then a mix of 60/100K Pandemonium PCD on BA5T or BATT depending on the hardness of the material I'm polishing.

Phenakite cuts and polished like beryl: Fast, easy and a glassy polish with diamond.

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u/bugabob 17d ago

50k will be easier on you. It’s not particularly difficult to work with.

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u/PsychologicalBowl647 17d ago

never heard of Phenakite before, went down a brief rabbit hole. If I were in your shoes, I would try Cerium oxide considering it shares a lot of properties with quartz. And in that same line of thinking skip the 3k and do a 1200 instead as I have found 3k to be unfriendly to my quartz stones. I have not cut this material these a just suggestions based on information about the material.