Re: Virgin Valley N1 Black Opal Limb Cast - unique color pattern, need help
Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 4:35 pm
Hiya. I've not heard of anybody cutting opal with lasers offhand. Glad the stabilizing is working out so far, slow drying is a much more palatable term as most think the S word means chemicals and the aficionados don't listen as well after that. Glad you found a mentor. A few have crossed my path, but they don't all need the business.
Well I soaked a lot of crazy opal in Starbond before polishing and the coarse hard diamond 80 wheel was the only fast way to get rid of the hard unwanted. Best to preform your material before gluing it into space age polymer harness. You can cut off the great break face for one piece of opal on wood and then on the sawn off face you can tell if any glue penetrated or if any color runs thru the piece further, but you have the one AND if it does not penetrate you have uneven penetration when finished.
So Ive been doing a lot more "as found" "cheap" than high quality blacks for a fine display against a solid wall of competition with brimming cases. I have a few but they wait their next owners. They haven't fallen apart in the decades. The opal is fine as long as it was made fine by mother earth to start with. I will say its HEAT SENSITIVE and don't ever lean on it for polish on a point. The main reason commercial cutting has failed in the past is because they think it can take the heat that some other fields can use burning a glaze on the surface.
The cheaper glued stuff that looks great sells as soon as its done if priced at or below "commoner" opals of the same brightness and POC.
That being said, on natural opal i run it thru a gem saw and the blades have been of varying thicknesses, even to agate blades, for removing potch and splitting nodules. If its already cracked it does not always fall apart.
I've not noticed shattering problems as my wheels were wearing out and vibrating heavily either. Lots of people start on a 220 wheel to baby the rough, not me. The glue grinds right off pure opal and the cutting never "worsened the cracks that i noticed, or made more between the glued together ones. A good saw has little vibration.
You probably have a good color layer running down it as a lot of times it only makes in 3/4 to 1 1/2 in thick bar of play of color from blue to red, big to small that you have to be aware of sometimes. others form from the outside in so the 1" give or take branches are the brightest. The bars in the ribbon patter appear that the color is ninety degrees to it; NOT THAT the ribbon pattern is not where the action is on this one. Picture the bars as split columns of honeycomb pattern or plume. the 360 ones usally have a flagstone pattern on the blue side to a pinfire look on the top side, but every one is different and you just need the surface to be hot on killer N1 stones. Cant wait to see what comes out of it.
It cuts, just not every chunk that comes out. This one has a layer of Marcasite spheres in it. I have a 2,600 ct one in my case, but have not rubbed it down to make it look sexy to be bought. Right now Im chasing a copper deposit before an open pit gets it.
Well I soaked a lot of crazy opal in Starbond before polishing and the coarse hard diamond 80 wheel was the only fast way to get rid of the hard unwanted. Best to preform your material before gluing it into space age polymer harness. You can cut off the great break face for one piece of opal on wood and then on the sawn off face you can tell if any glue penetrated or if any color runs thru the piece further, but you have the one AND if it does not penetrate you have uneven penetration when finished.
So Ive been doing a lot more "as found" "cheap" than high quality blacks for a fine display against a solid wall of competition with brimming cases. I have a few but they wait their next owners. They haven't fallen apart in the decades. The opal is fine as long as it was made fine by mother earth to start with. I will say its HEAT SENSITIVE and don't ever lean on it for polish on a point. The main reason commercial cutting has failed in the past is because they think it can take the heat that some other fields can use burning a glaze on the surface.
The cheaper glued stuff that looks great sells as soon as its done if priced at or below "commoner" opals of the same brightness and POC.
That being said, on natural opal i run it thru a gem saw and the blades have been of varying thicknesses, even to agate blades, for removing potch and splitting nodules. If its already cracked it does not always fall apart.
I've not noticed shattering problems as my wheels were wearing out and vibrating heavily either. Lots of people start on a 220 wheel to baby the rough, not me. The glue grinds right off pure opal and the cutting never "worsened the cracks that i noticed, or made more between the glued together ones. A good saw has little vibration.
You probably have a good color layer running down it as a lot of times it only makes in 3/4 to 1 1/2 in thick bar of play of color from blue to red, big to small that you have to be aware of sometimes. others form from the outside in so the 1" give or take branches are the brightest. The bars in the ribbon patter appear that the color is ninety degrees to it; NOT THAT the ribbon pattern is not where the action is on this one. Picture the bars as split columns of honeycomb pattern or plume. the 360 ones usally have a flagstone pattern on the blue side to a pinfire look on the top side, but every one is different and you just need the surface to be hot on killer N1 stones. Cant wait to see what comes out of it.
It cuts, just not every chunk that comes out. This one has a layer of Marcasite spheres in it. I have a 2,600 ct one in my case, but have not rubbed it down to make it look sexy to be bought. Right now Im chasing a copper deposit before an open pit gets it.