Lortone — The Workshop Standard for North American Lapidary Equipment
Lortone — The Workshop Standard for North American Lapidary Equipment
An American manufacturer of cabbing arbors, rock tumblers, and diamond saws since 1957
Lortone is an American manufacturer of lapidary equipment based in Mukilteo, Washington, producing cabbing machines, rock tumblers, and diamond saws used by hobbyists, small-scale lapidaries, and educational programmes across North America. The company was founded in 1957 and has remained a steady presence in the small but durable lapidary-equipment market for more than six decades, with its products documented in Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist and a long succession of how-to references for the cabbing and tumbling crafts. The Lortone name is functionally synonymous with workshop-grade lapidary equipment in much of the North American hobbyist market.
Product range
Lortone's principal products fall into three categories. Cabbing machines — horizontal-wheel arbors used to grind and polish cabochon-cut stones — are produced in single-wheel and multi-wheel configurations, with sizes ranging from small benchtop units suitable for occasional hobby use to larger six-wheel units appropriate for serious workshop production. The cabbing wheels themselves are sold separately in successive grits from coarse silicon-carbide grinding through medium grits to fine diamond polishing pads.
Rock tumblers are the second product line, produced in both rotary and vibratory configurations. Rotary tumblers use a slowly rotating barrel filled with rough stones, abrasive grit, and water, cycling through progressive grit grades over several weeks to produce smooth, polished tumbled stones. Vibratory tumblers achieve faster results — typically one to two weeks rather than four to six — by vibrating the load rather than rotating it, with a generally less aggressive material removal but better preservation of stone shape.
Diamond saws complete the principal product range, in trim-saw and slab-saw configurations. Trim saws handle small stones up to a few inches across; slab saws process larger blocks into flat slabs that are subsequently cut into cabochon preforms or used directly in lapidary projects. Both saw types use diamond-impregnated blades cooled by water or oil-based cutting fluids.
Position in the market
The lapidary-equipment market is small, with a limited number of established manufacturers serving a hobbyist and small-professional customer base. Lortone competes principally with Diamond Pacific (also based in the western United States), Highland Park Lapidary, and a small number of European and Asian manufacturers. Within this market, Lortone's positioning is as a workshop-grade brand at competitive pricing — equipment that is not the most sophisticated available but is reliable, well-supported, and reasonably priced for the hobbyist and small-scale-professional user. The company's longevity and consistent product line have made the brand a default reference for new entrants to the lapidary craft.
In the trade
For Skyjems and the broader gem trade, Lortone equipment is most relevant as part of the upstream supply chain that produces the cabochons and tumbled stones in commercial circulation. Many of the cabochon-cut coloured stones in retail circulation, particularly in mid-market jewellery, are cut on equipment of the Lortone-Diamond Pacific class, and the production economics of the lapidary craft are partly defined by the availability and pricing of equipment in this category. The company is not directly relevant to fine-gem cutting at the high end, which uses different equipment and different production processes, but it is a significant presence in the broader cabochon, bead, and tumbled-stone supply that constitutes most of the world's commercial coloured-stone output by piece count.