A special Christmas ornament

With the Christmas season upon us, I’d like to share something a little unusual. So, let’s make something…

The way we cut stone is either with diamond tipped blades, or by abrasive waterjet, with the waterjet being the more interesting of the two methods. Allow me to demonstrate:

An abrasive waterjet is pretty straight forward. Starting with an orifice the size of a pinhole made of diamond or ruby, force a stream of water at 60,000 pounds per square inch through it.

At this point, the jetstream is travelling at three times the speed of sound as garnet, acting as an abrasive, is introduced to the stream just after exiting the orifice. This gives the jetstream amazing cutting power which can cut through eight inches of titanium if needed. Plenty of power to cut through a stone slab.

When that cutting nozzle is part of a robotic system, you now have the potential to cut just about anything you can imagine, with computer controlled precision.

Typically, we use this method of cutting for radius work in countertops, but we can also provide intricate designs like this ornament in white quartz.

Merry Christmas!