Custom Gemstone Faceting
and Lapidary Service      

The successful faceting of semi-precious gemstones is very much a result of being able to impart a flawless, scratch-free polish on the facets in a reasonable amount of time. The other two necessities for superior quality are, of course, using proper angles and being able to do a reasonable job of having proper meets at facet junctions. The use of proper angles and meet-point techniques can be negated if the polish is lacking.

The Pol-A-Gem lap was developed by world renowned faceters Glenn and Martha Vargas as a result of trying to improve upon the accepted polishing technique for quartz which was using a cerium oxide (CeO) slurry on a scored Lucite lap. Glenn and Martha were teaching a faceting class in the mid 1970s in Adult Education at the College of the Desert in the Coachella Valley of California (Palm Springs Valley as it is now more frequently being called). There were frequent complaints of scratching problems and inconsistent results, not to mention the mess associated with slurry techniques. One of their newer students (a recently retired gentleman) seemed very bright and eager to offer suggestions. Glenn only knew the gentleman's name, Art Underwood. Art would sometimes make trips back to his prior hometown of Detroit and come back with supplies and suggestions on how to possibly make a hard composite lap. Glenn and Martha were anxious to give Art's suggestions a try. Over a period of months Glenn set about in his workshop at home to try a series of formulas and techniques utilizing a resin-based mix containing the polishing oxide. By proper lathe turning both top and bottom, Glenn eventually produced laps that were hard, flat, and would polish with just the addition of water. No more messy slurry. No more scratching due to agglomeration-and-flow of slurry on scored Lucite. The laps were named Pol-A-Gem.

After success with CeO, Glenn set about and created another hard faced lap using the other dominant polishing medium, Aluminum Oxide. Interestingly, although both laps employ a resin based technology, they ended up having to include slightly different additions to their blends in order to work optimally. Neither mix is a simple blend of polishing oxide and resin. It became necessary after experimenting that other "special" ingredients had to be involved. Each lap employs a different "other" ingredient/step.

By the late 1970s the Pol-A-Gem laps were being made by Glenn in his backyard workshop and were being offered to the faceting public through his mail order facet rough business. He never advertised them separately but all of his mail order customers heard about them.

It was about this time that Glenn turned 65 years old and the College of the Desert could no longer employ someone that old as an instructor. What a loss for the local area. The University of Texas, Austin, had heard of Glenn and Martha and offered them a teaching position in Austin. Glenn and Martha accepted, and for the next 23 years traveled to Austin from their home in Thermal, CA for twice-yearly six week semesters of faceting instruction.

They taught thousands of students to facet, and naturally used their proven techniques which utilized their Fac-A-Gem faceting machine as well as their Pol-A-Gem polishing laps.

The Pol-A-Gem lap starts off as a disc, either 6" or 8" diameter, cut from a half inch thick plate of 4 foot by 8 foot Lucite. First the back face is machined flat. Then on the opposite face a recess approximately 1.5 mm deep is machined across the radius to the central hub area. This recess is then filled with the proprietary blend of ingredients as a resin-based mix and allowed to cure. The working face is then machined so that it is parallel to the back face. This results in a relatively hard, flat surface which will impart a scratch-free polish with relatively sharp edges with just the addition of water. Because the lap is hard, there is negligible wear, and if the surface does become contaminated or damaged by coming down on the wrong index or wrong angle too often, the lap can be easily be refaced with a simple lathe cut of .002" or .003". Because the compound thickness is approximately 1.5 mm deep, there are many years worth of refurbishings available. As an example of the lap's durability, one of the members of our group, who has been a protégé of Glenn and Martha for over 30 years, is still using the same Cerium Oxide and Alumina laps he got from them in the late 1970s. My own laps are approaching 17 years of age and still going strong even after several refacings over the years. It is safe to say that these laps should last a lifetime.

Glenn has passed along his lap making knowledge to Dick Rugel, a friend and fellow faceter as well as a machinist so that the Pol-A-Gem will continue. Their manufacture is not a high speed automated hi-tech production operation. It is more of a "cottage industry" small batch operation with lots of personal attention to detail. Dick has been producing them for three years, ever since Glenn became too infirmed to continue on his own.

A final comment: The retired gentleman, Art Underwood, who in the late 1970s would make occasional trips back to Detroit, turned out to be the recently retired head of Research and Development for General Motors. Glenn and Martha were quick to point out that on almost all of their faceting related accomplishments they give credit to the fine people around them who contributed ideas and experience.

Jeremy Newman
Dec. 4, 2008