I always thought the same thing until someone on our old forum ran a cutting contest and invited me to join in the fun, telling me to use files and rasps, so I used metal rasps and emery boards, plus a little battery operated nail tool that was faster than filing by hand. He sent me a piece of seam opal that was very thin, and I had to get the potch off both sides without breaking it. Here's a link to a thread I showed the finished opal in.
viewtopic.php?p=9043&hilit=cindy+crawfo ... lips#p9043
Since then I did buy a used lap, and a dremel-like tool since you don't need to spend big bucks on brand name equipment that always costs more.
I suggest you document your progress in case something goes wrong so you can see where to make a correction next time, but it's not as hard as it looks so I think you'll do fine right out of the gate like I did. Keep us posted!
*Edited to add that you're through the screening process now so your posts will appear immediately and you can use the private message system.
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