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Welcome aboard!

The Hi-Tech machines are a great starting point for sure.

Messy stuff to cut but I love the finished look.

Thank you! Cheers!

You can do it!

Glad you like it

Thanks so much. Maybe some day the algorithm will warm up to me :)

@@TheVorlon yup that’s me! We love the Colonel, he is good fun :)

Muy Thanks!

Opal slightly softer and you have to learn to read the bars in a different but the shaping is all very similar. Be careful, opal is highly addictive!

@@OpalAuctions53Frogs I bought some Oregon Fire Opal to practice on. I find it similar to Obsidian. Im going to make a purchase from you someday but im trying to buy a home atm in the states. Probably going to fall threw so I might actually be able to buy opals instead of a house.

​@@krackenagate5606 It is a good day when your rock hobby transitions from becoming liability to an income producing adventure. Maybe your opal buys you a house!

@@OpalAuctions53Frogs thats what i told my wife

Thanks for reminding me! I want to do a piece on "Gamble"

I find so much of the time I get lucky just by rocking up. You got to be in it to win it! Good Luck :)

Thank you! 😊

Glad you like them!

Sounds a bout right. I know the pneumatic ones are on the upper side of that range.

There is a bit of a period where you need to figure out the angles but it's not as hard as writing with the other hand.

@nnOpals if it was that hard I would be lost.

@@FatKidBrody More like putting the fork in the other hand. :)

Looks like youtube deleted my 1st post due to forgetting to put a space after a period smh... If you go to Opal Auctions and search "Optical Dopping Kit -LAPIDARY " there's a video showing the UV kit. At about 1min 5sec he removes a stone. It seems gummy, not a hard stick like super glue, but there is a slight pop. Might use a light to make sure there's no cracks where you attach the stone to the dop stick. Opal is 5.5-6.5 on the Mohs scale and shouldn't crack normally, but Ethiopian tends to have a bunch of cracks.

Put them into the fridge ❤

This one was stuck on just enough to keep it there. I easily just pulled it off with my fingers when I was done and then used a safety knife to rub the glue off. A safety knife is also handy to get the opal off if it is stuck on there really well. If optical glue pulls chips out of your opal, then the opal isn't prepared well enough to dop.

This is the way.

This only works when doping with wax. With the UV glue you can just pull the opal off or slice a safety razor between the opal and the dop.

Thanks for the tip. I'll get a set of the sponges and give them a go to see how it changes the cutting/polishing. One of the reasons I think this is such a great starter machine is that even if you eventually upgrade there are a lot of things that it is just easier to do on a flat lap. Doublets/mosiacs/inlay work etc, all easier on a flat lap.

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks! I'll look into this as an alternative. I've had really poor luck with Vevor kit in the past in terms of quality and longevity so hadn't really considered them as a real option. Is there a particular machine you recomend?

@@OpalAuctions53Frogs well I have heard good things about the KD-8801 model. However ive also heard bad things. I would think with cabs I can do it by hand using some wax and a wooden dowel and by eye by rotating upon the different laps until I'm satisfied with the look and then move onto polishing. I wanna get into faceting and gold and silversmithing as well. I got access to a lot of rough. The creek outback is loaded in quartz mostly a mix of milk and smokey quartz. I have found garnet and amethyst as well as a few other stones...most likely because its a glacial moraine deposit. Thinking 300-400 cabs would be enough for a nice ultratec v5 with the digital controls...from there its just learning the trades.

@@kingdarkem Right I think this Vevor kit you reference is much more appropriate for hobby faceting and maybe not so much for cabbing opals. I could be wrong. Just never heard of anybody having much success with this approach.

@@OpalAuctions53Frogs well if your interested I could document it when I get to it. Wont be till sometime after the new year. My busy season kicks off soon.

@@kingdarkem definitely let me know if you have any luck here cutting cabochons. Thanks!

With that kind of mechanical mind you could just build yourself a proper bush arbour. Miners do this all the time out in the field to rub their finds and they have little more than a welder and some spare parts!

sounds a bit similar to my contraption.

@@ThatOpalGuy Nothing wrong with that! I think some of these designs can actually trump the retail version in that they can carry a lot more wheels and are easier to fix because they are more simple in their engineering. Problem is very few new players have the technical skill to pull it off I think.

Definitely would If I had one exactly the right size.

The Opal Mills uses a vertical cabber, pretty similar to the slant cabber. Phil makes great content too.

Will do! Cutting on a flat lap is a lot easier in some ways than on an arbour. I'm sure I will get used to the slant quickly an make some cutting videos to put it through the paces.

I really like his Wuttke and worked with Jason for month to try to get him up and selling but he had too much going on to focus on it seriously. Maybe someday would be a great business for him. Definitely a hole in the market for that kind of sturdy build at a competitive price point.

@@OpalAuctions53Frogs I remember that video. it is a great machine.

Thanks! Make sure to like and sub if you want to follow me breaking this machine in.

The boys are on some great colour now so will be lots getting loaded in the next two months to the shop. Get you some!

Rock on!

Thank you kindly

Get you some!

@nnOpals I'm looking, and bidding. It rapidly gets our of my affordability range in most cases, but thats good for you!

He's the best vendor on opal auctions.

@@ThatOpalGuy Thanks Don. I think Don Pulitzer has mentioned him a lot as well. It gives me more confidence to approach them with a few items.

@@ThatOpalGuy Oops. For a few items! LOL.

Many thanks for the kind words! I might be slightly more accurate to say that I source all types of different opal from the beginner to the very best and I am super clear about describing it and taking very accurate pictures and videos so everybody that wants to can take a measured approach to selecting just the opal they want.

@@nancycurtis7315 I mention it as much as I can.

You can do it this way but the finish doesnt turn out very well. Better to resin coat it or stabilised with cactus juice or other uv stable resin in a vacuum chamber

Many thanks! She not so little any more. We had so much fun those years. Now she is teen and heads down her own path!

@@OpalAuctions53Frogs I believe all the Lil ones go their own way. Maybe she will decide opals are the way to go and maybe form a family business. Who knows 🧐🤔

How Low can you go? czcams.com/video/Yc356wFQZKI/video.htmlsi=QkNRiuLlORNgwJCA

Most welcome!

Good Luck mate!

True that friend! Not so little.

You got to be in it to win it!

@@OpalAuctions53Frogs that's what I hear!

Many thanks Neil!

ta!

I’m pretty sure that you cannot legally do this anymore. Your best bet for this kind of information is to contact the Lightning Ridge visitor information information center and ask them about possible faucet locations.

@@OpalAuctions53Frogs Thankyou for the info. I will do that.

Thank you so much 😀

Many thanks for the kind words! Here to help if you have any questions.

Yes, Very possible. Just on channel www.youtube.com/@RoysRocks. Roy specialises in teaching new players how to do this.

Thanks a bunch!

Glad I could help!

No problem!

Cheers :)

Most welcome!

Thanks 👍

Pretty close to Floral I say.