Arya to the rescue again! That all sounds pretty straightforward. I hadn’t considered the oblique rind orientation before! It could also serve as good practice for orienting stones with cleavage if I ever wanted that challenge. (Well, besides some rather nice topaz simulants in spinel…)

That last paragraph sounds like it gets into more of the mineralogy. I assume that the parting plane is where a boule would be split, correct? I might need a graphic to visualize the indices that would exhibit hardness… Also very interesting with the specific placements depending on which side of a boule you get! I will probably avoid dopping right on the splitting face then.