The earliest known lapidary work likely occurred during the Stone Age. As people created tools from stone, they realized that some geological materials were harder than others. The next earliest documented examples of what could be considered lapidary arts came in the form of drilling stone and rock. The earliest roots of drilling rocks date back to approximately one million years ago.

The early Egyptians developed cutting and jewelry fashioning methods for lapis lazuli, turquoise, and amethyst.

The art of lapidary was relatively well-developed in the Indian subcontinent by the early 1st millennium CE. The surviving manuscripts of the 3rd century Buddhist text Rathanpariksha by Buddha Bhatta, and several Hindu texts of mid-1st millennium CE such as Agni Purana and Agastimata, are Sanskrit treatises on lapidary arts. They discuss sources of gems and diamonds, their origins, qualities, testing, cutting and polishing, and making jewelry from them. Several other Sanskrit texts on gems and lapidary arts have been dated to post-10th century, suggesting a continuous lapidary practice.

According to Jason Hawkes and Stephanie Wynne-Jones, archaeological evidence suggests that trade in lapidary products between Africa and India was established in the 1st millennium CE. People of the Deccan region of India and those near the coast of East Africa had innovated their own techniques for lapidary before the 10th century, as evidenced by excavations and Indian and non-Indian texts dated to that period.

Lapidary was also a significant tradition in early Mesoamerica. The lapidary products were used as status symbols, for offerings, and during burials. They were made from shell, jade, turquoise, and greenstones. Aztec lapidarists used string saws and drills made of reed and bone as their lapidary tools.
The history of lapidaries can be traced back to the classical world, where writers like Theophrastus and Pliny the Elder laid the foundations for later medieval interpretations of gemstones. In his examination of lyngurium—a mythical gemstone described by Theophrastus—Steven A. Walton discusses how classical knowledge was transmitted and adapted in medieval lapidary traditions. Despite the mythical nature of some of these stones, medieval lapidaries continued to draw on classical sources, blending scientific knowledge with magical beliefs. Walton highlights how these texts cataloged stones not only for their aesthetic and material properties but also for their purported magical and medicinal functions, making lapidaries sources essential for texts for both scholars and practitioners of natural philosophy during the medieval period.

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There are three broad categories of lapidary arts: tumbling, cabochon cutting, and faceting. Among a modern gemcutter's work are the following activities:
• Positioning rough stone in a holder, and holding the stone against the edge of a revolving saw or lapidary slitter impregnated with diamond dust to cut and slit stone.
• Removing cut stone and placing it in lapidary stick. A gemcutter then selects the shaping wheel and applies abrasive compound. They hold a lapidary stick against the revolving shaping wheel and lapidary disk to further shape stone and grind facets.
• Depositing stone within a barrel with both water and a grinding/polishing medium and either vibrating or rotating said barrel using friction to grind and polish the stones over time.
• Examining stone for accuracy of cut, using a magnifying glass. A gemcutter polishes stone, using felt or canvas-covered polishing wheel, and polishing compounds, such as tripoli or jeweler's rouge.
• Possibly using a mechanical facet-cutting device. A gemcutter may cut and polish diamonds for industrial purposes, and be designated as an industrial diamond polisher.
• The Mohs hardness scale is a commonly used tool in lapidary to help measure a mineral's scratch hardness. A mineral's scratch hardness is measured by seeing how easily scratched it is, and what other minerals on the Mohs hardness scale can scratch it. This tool is helpful in indicating what different lapidary methods should be used on the material.
Cutting of harder stones is done with a diamond-edged saw. For softer materials, a medium other than diamond can be used, such as silicon carbide, garnet, emery, or corundum. Diamond cutting requires the use of diamond tools because of the extreme hardness of diamonds. The cutting, grinding, and polishing operations are usually lubricated with water, oil, or other liquids. Beyond these broader categories, there are other specialized forms of lapidary techniques, such as casting, carving, jewelry, and mosaics.

While the gemstone in the rough state may be trimmed to remove undesirable material or to separate it on a cleavage line with a diamond bladed saw, accurately described as cutting and once done by the use of a chisel or similar tool to simply break off pieces that were usable as single gemstones, the actual shaping and polishing of a gemstone is a grinding or sanding process. This grinding and sanding is done using a lap, a precision metal plate embedded with grit similar to the more familiar embedding of grit on paper the lap is of high precision particularly for flatness and turned by a motor. The grit materi…

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Stones can contain asbestos, silica, lead, talc, and other hazardous ingredients. The dust produced by lapidary techniques on such stones can cause health issues if inhaled. Copper(II) oxide, which is common in colorful minerals such as turquoise and malachite, can damage the endocrine and central nervous systems. The most common minerals are silicates, and the dust from these rocks can result in silicosis. Fossil rocks can be radioactive.

For lapidary work, safety precautions include wearing a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health approved respirator with replaceable cartridges and dust filters; using a local exhaust ventilation system or working outside; using proper lubricants; wearing protective clothing; showering and shampooing immediately afterward; and using a wet mop to clean the workshop.