The History of Gearloose
Gearloose began in 1997 with a simple idea: lapidary equipment should be engineered specifically for the way gem cutters actually work.
Founder Jon “Gearloose” Rolfe combined hands-on faceting experience with a background in chemistry and materials science. What began as experiments to solve problems in his own workshop grew into a family of specialized faceting laps, polishing compounds and accessories used by gem cutters around the world.
Over nearly three decades, that approach produced BATT™, BA5T™, Darkside™, Greenway™, Creamway™, MATRIX™, DIAMAX™, BATTSTIK™, PANDIMONIUM® and many other Gearloose products.
Some products became long-term standards. Others were experiments that eventually gave way to something better. Nearly all of them started the same way: identify a problem at the faceting machine, experiment until something works better, and put it in the hands of other cutters.
1997 — The Beginning
Gearloose began when Jon started making lapidary equipment for use in his own shop.
His earliest laps were cast from lead-free 95/5 tin-antimony solder. Drawing on his background in chemistry and materials science, Jon began experimenting with alloy composition and casting methods specifically for lapidary use.
Those experiments led to BATT™.
Rather than simply adapting an existing industrial alloy, BATT™ was developed with a structure that readily accepts and holds diamond. Depending on the diamond charge, the resulting solid cast lap could be used for cutting, prepolishing or polishing.
BATT™ became the foundation of Gearloose Lapidary and remains one of the company's core products today.
2000 — The Redwing™
The next major idea was to put two different working surfaces on a single lap.
The original Redwing™ combined an outer copper surface charged with 3,000-grit diamond for prepolishing with a BATT™ center charged with fine diamond for final polishing.
A cutter could prepolish a facet and then move directly to the center of the same lap for polishing without changing laps or readjusting the machine.
It was an early example of an idea that would appear repeatedly throughout Gearloose history: combine processes whenever doing so makes faceting faster and simpler.
About 800 Redwing™ laps were produced before rising copper and tin prices eventually made the original design impractical to manufacture. The Redwing™ disappeared, but the dual-zone concept did not.
2005–2007 — BA5T™ and an Improved BATT™
As Gearloose grew, Jon continued experimenting with metal alloys.
BA5T™ was developed as a harder, finer-grained polishing alloy with a different working feel than BATT™. It became particularly popular with experienced, competition and production cutters looking for flat facets, sharp meets and a high-quality final polish.
Development of BATT™ continued as well.
Changes to the BATT™ formulation and casting process improved consistency, charging characteristics and diamond retention. New hardeners, grain refiners and deoxidizers became part of the manufacturing process.
2008 — The Darkside™
By 2008, Gearloose development began moving beyond traditional metal laps and into engineered composite materials.
The result was the Darkside™, a low-friction composite polishing lap designed to work with both diamond and oxide polishes.
Darkside™ offered cutters an easier-to-use polishing surface while still providing the performance needed for precision faceting. It also opened an entirely new area of materials development for Gearloose.
Darkside™ went on to become one of the company's best-known products and remains in production today.
2009 — BATTWING™, BATTSTIK™ and DIASTIK™
With the success of Darkside™, Gearloose returned to the dual-zone idea first explored with Redwing™.
The BATTWING™ combined a BATT™ prepolishing band with a Darkside™ polishing center, allowing a cutter to prepolish and polish on a single lap.
That same period brought another innovation aimed at a common polishing problem: using far more compound than necessary.
BATTSTIK™ packaged oxide polishing compounds in a convenient solid carrier, making it easy to apply a controlled amount directly to the lap. The same concept led to DIASTIK™ for diamond.
Gearloose also developed its own lap lubricant and cleaner, eventually known as Professor Ignatius Brand Snake Oil™.
In 2009, the growing business formally became Gearloose Lapidary, LLC in Massachusetts.
2010 — Greenway™
Composite technology took another step forward with the introduction of Greenway™.
Greenway™ incorporated chrome oxide directly into a low-friction composite lap. Rather than applying loose chrome oxide slurry to a separate polishing surface, a cutter could simply use water and polish directly on the Greenway™.
The material proved useful on a wide range of gemstones and became another enduring member of the Gearloose product family.
The Greenwing™ followed, combining a BATT™ prepolishing band with a Greenway™ polishing center and continuing the dual-zone concept begun with the Redwing™.
2011 — Rethinking the Zinc Lap
Gearloose next turned its attention to one of the traditional materials used by faceters: zinc.
Instead of simply reproducing a conventional zinc lap, Jon developed a controlled zinc alloy and manufacturing process specifically for diamond prepolishing.
The resulting material proved exceptionally fast. It also demonstrated that finer diamond could produce excellent prepolishing results on zinc, with 8,000-grit diamond becoming a particularly useful combination.
This development ultimately became the basis for the Zinc Plus™ family of chargeable prepolishing laps.
The same period included several additional experiments with dual-zone and specialty laps. Not every Gearloose experiment remained in production, but each contributed something to the products that followed.
2012–2014 — A New Generation of Composites
The next several years brought some of the most important composite developments in Gearloose history.
Creamway™ introduced zirconium oxide into a composite lap designed particularly for quartz and other silica-based materials. Like Greenway™, it offered a simple water-only polishing system.
Then came MATRIX™, an engineered composite designed to provide flat facets and sharp meets while being more forgiving than traditional ceramic polishing laps.
The MATRIX™ concept was further developed for diamond polishing, eventually leading to DiaMatrix™.
Gearloose also continued exploring combination laps such as the Dominatrix™, which paired a BATT™ prepolishing area with a composite polishing center.
What had begun with cast tin alloys was becoming an increasingly diverse family of engineered metals, polymers and ceramic composites.
The PANDIMONIUM® Era
The original DIASTIK™ concept continued to evolve into a new generation of diamond products.
PANDIMONIUM® was developed to provide controlled diamond application and effective film formation on chargeable metal and composite laps.
The family expanded to include both monocrystalline and polycrystalline diamond products, giving cutters different options for cutting, prepolishing and polishing.
PANDIMONIUM® became an important companion to BATT™, BA5T™, Zinc Plus™ and Gearloose composite laps while continuing the same basic philosophy behind BATTSTIK™ and DIASTIK™: put the polishing material where it is needed instead of sending most of it into the splash pan.
2018 — Tin Plus™
Tin Plus™ was introduced as a laminated tin-alloy lap.
It offered cutters another chargeable metal surface with a working feel between traditional tin and BATT™, while its laminated construction reduced the amount of expensive metal required compared with a heavy solid lap.
Tin Plus™ remained part of the Gearloose lineup for several years before increasing material costs eventually made continued production impractical.
2022 — DIAMAX™
Product development sometimes begins with a new idea. Other times, circumstances force a new solution.
When a critical raw material used to manufacture DiaMatrix™ became unavailable, Gearloose already had its successor under development.
In 2022, DIAMAX™ replaced DiaMatrix™.
The new composite was developed for faster polishing, reduced frictional heating and excellent performance with diamond while retaining the flat, precise polishing characteristics cutters expected from Gearloose composite laps.
Once again, a supply problem became an opportunity to develop something better.
2025 — A New Chapter
In 2025, Sam Baar acquired the Gearloose brands, products, tooling, proprietary formulations and intellectual property from founder Jon Rolfe.
A new Arizona corporation, Gearloose Lapidary Inc., was formed, and production was moved from Massachusetts to Tempe, Arizona.
The goal was not simply to preserve Gearloose as it existed, but to carry forward the products and ideas that had earned the company its reputation while continuing to refine the product line and develop what comes next.
Nearly three decades after Jon's first BATT™ experiments, Gearloose began its next chapter.
2026 — Moving Forward
With production established in Arizona, work began on both simplifying the existing product line and continuing new product development.
The PANDIMONIUM® diamond family was reorganized into three clearer categories:
PAN PCD™ — polycrystalline diamond products for prepolishing and polishing.
PAN Mono™ — monocrystalline diamond products for prepolishing and polishing.
PAN Cut™ — coarser monocrystalline diamond products intended for cutting.
The change eliminated unnecessary overlap and made it easier for cutters to choose the right diamond product for the job.
Gearloose also introduced the Boule Tool™, a simple tool developed to help cutters properly charge BATT™, BA5T™ and Zinc Plus™ laps, as well as future chargeable Gearloose laps.
At the same time, two new lap designs entered development and testing.
Copper Plus™ brings traditional copper back into the Gearloose lineup using a modern laminated construction. Like Zinc Plus™, it is designed as a chargeable lap while providing the familiar cutting and prepolishing characteristics that have kept copper popular with generations of gem cutters.
And the dual-zone idea that began with Redwing™ more than twenty-five years ago continues with Dia-Z Plus™.
Dia-Z Plus™ combines an outer Zinc Plus™ ring for diamond prepolishing with an inner DIAMAX™ ring for final polishing. It brings two proven Gearloose materials together on one lap, allowing a cutter to move from prepolish to polish without changing laps.
From Redwing™ to BATTWING™, Greenwing™ and Dominatrix™, Gearloose has repeatedly returned to the challenge of making two-step faceting faster and more convenient. Dia-Z Plus™ represents the latest evolution of that idea.
The Gearloose Tradition Continues
Today, Gearloose Lapidary continues from its home in Tempe, Arizona.
It operates with a new official Gearloose Logo which features Jon's Tuxedo Cat, Ignatius.
Ignatius was the CFO (Chief Feline Officer) of Gearloose and was originally featured on the Snake Oil bottle packaging. Sadly, Iggy passed away in 2025. He is now immortalized as the Gearloose offical logo.
BATT™, BA5T™, Darkside™, Greenway™, Creamway™, MATRIX™, DIAMAX™, Zinc Plus™, BATTSTIK™ and PANDIMONIUM® continue a product family that began with experiments in a gem cutter's workshop in 1997.
Some products will continue for decades. Others will eventually be replaced as materials change, better ideas emerge or new manufacturing methods become possible.
That has always been part of Gearloose.
The equipment has changed. The materials have changed. The company itself has entered a new generation.
The basic approach has not:
Solve real problems. Test the solution. Listen to the people using it. Make it better.
Jon once summarized the Gearloose philosophy in seven words:
“Our mission is to remain forty years ahead.”
That's a history worth preserving—and a standard worth continuing.