Boulder Opal Carving (Part 1: Rough to Rub)
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- čas přidán 16. 07. 2024
- Rubbing a boulder opal from rough to a shaped rub. Next stage in part 2 ( • Boulder Opal Rub to Pr... ) will be getting a nice pre-polish on the piece.
Timestamps:
0:00 Start
2:51 Carving 1
5:56 Fingernail cut
8:21 Mid-cut
13:10 Carving 2
17:15 Final rub
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I have always had a soft spot for boulder opal. It's beautiful stuff.
It really is. A clump of dirt looking rock can reveal something soo unexpected! This one was not the best but it still have a nice unique feel. I look forward to finishing it off.
@@RoysRocks So do I!!!!!!! Only ever seen a few pieces, but fell in love......... Lol.
Nice to see how you were working to get more colour to the surface, thanks for sharing.
No worries Paul. Yeah with beginner grade stuff you can go hard at the rock to hunt for colour. Pieces like this dont cost very much so the payoff can be huge when you get a wild pattern with colour... but sometimes you just get more ironstone. Such is the opal life.
Pro tip: you can watch movies on flixzone. Me and my gf have been using them for watching all kinds of movies these days.
@Armani Oakley yea, I've been watching on Flixzone for since december myself :D
@Armani Oakley Yup, have been watching on Flixzone for since november myself =)
Just started doing some boulder opal myself.... and loving it!! Thanks for the video... was great to see yours turned to mud as well.... thought I was doing something wrong.. lol cant wait to see the final product wrapped.... maybe you should tag Yvonne in the video.... wait!! You should video the wrap as well !! Lol
Yeah I need to work out a running water method that doesnt get in the way of my camera angle. The good olde water tub is a pain with boulder. Wish I could show a picture of the splatter guard I use! I'll include one in the next vid if I remember. Boulder is a mess but soo much fun and pretty relaxing.
Oh and I'll definitely record more wire wrapping with this one. Will be interesting with an odd shaped stone.
Sintered Burs medium
Silicone rubber abrasive medium
Diamond grit paste
High grit nova 3000 upwards 2 highest of your choice
The end result is 🤩
(Technique from Diverse Opal)
The diamond paste stage before novas is strange as it should be higher grit than a 3000 nova.
Very helpful ! I started polishing a while ago
Nice what kind of opal are you polishing?
Roys Rocks i started with boulder and fiews black opals
I would've been tempted to make an arrowhead with that one.
...and yes, I'm watching this episode again. Lol
I've been meaning to try out making an opal arrowhead but havent got any big enough pieces of potch to try it out on.
Do you ever stop and think how ancient the sand is that’s sloughing off the opal? Isn’t it amazing to see touch and work ? Super glad I found your channel.
Yes and yes. I find opalised fossils even more amazing.
Morning Roy.
Morning Nancy
awesome polish would you be able to tell me what tool you were using? thanks
A very old video this one. Simply just an ozito rotary tool with flex shaft and electroplated diamond burrs. Total of about $60AUD.
What grit is that burr? I’m trying to carve my boulder opals and the burr which came with my Renegade rotary tool is really struggling with the dark material (ironstone?)
جميل جدا يا صديقي اتمنى لك التوفيق
Thank you.
Have a good day.
Since the "back" had that sandy area, I'm wondering why you didn't just treat the back as the front and grind that off instead. it would seem that you could grind a tiny bit into the color bar and get the same effect as approaching the color bar from the front, and then you would have a solid back for the piece.
There is no telling how deep that sand goes. Looking at the piece (which was surprisingly still on my desk) the sandy region goes almost all the way through and it is actually quite stable.
Hi from the UK Roy just starting out armed with a Dremel and a wish here and wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying you Vids 👍 and that you are responsible for my latest obsession 😉😂
Currently awaiting my Nova tips and Sintered Diamond set from the US + a pack of Boulder Opal from Queensland so going to be armed and Dangerous but thanks to you sharing not Totally clueless 😂
A couple of things if I may ask is what pressure you apply when working on Boulder ? Also what is the best way to contact you as I would love some advise on which piece to start on when the goodies finally arrive 😉 Thanks, Sue
"what pressure you apply when working on Boulder?"
Depends on the stage but you never want to push very hard or you are asking a lot of your Dremel's chuck or collets. Also the ironstone will melt away quite easily so you wont need to push at all to remove it.
You can contact me in many places but through the website roysrocks.com is the best bet. I'm phasing many of the other methods out slowly.
The music sounds like a slow version of who made who by ac dc
Haha luckily it's just some random youtube supplied music. Playing ACDC would send the channel to the pots of hell immediately. They don't mess about with small channels and copywrite.
🥰😍🤩😍🥰
I dont think that one worked out soo well.
Dude totally just got the same scales as you!
Nice one. They are pretty good. I need to get the calibration weight out though. I like to do it pretty often but think I buried it under some opals...
great video! where can I find part 2?
Hi Doug. I believe it is this one:
czcams.com/video/773Mq4RXa4E/video.html
@@RoysRocks thank you.
@@nycDoug718 No worries Doug. This piece has been used quite a lot as a practice piece for my (amateur at best) wire wrapping videos
I don't know if you can have fossils in boulder, but is that a shell?
There is a lot of fossilised wood boulder opal but I don't think shells are very common and unfortunately this one wasn't a shell from memory.
What tip were you using?
Very old video this one. That tip was my old electroplated diamond burr. Upgraded to sintered a while ago and never looked back.
that stone looks really cool, even in total rough. ive been trying to figure out pricing, so i dont spend too much when i order online. was hoping you could tell me what the average price of a chunk of rough like this normally is priced at. btw, thanks for making such a great, and detailed video. it both helps me understand how long, and arduous it will be, and really gets me pumped about the opals ive ordered, and cant wait to put my dremel to use on some color! thanks!
Pricing can be all over the place particularly for boulder opal.
This chunk is pretty low grade and rather than pricing per ct boulder is done more by potential in the stone. This came from a parcel with an average stone value of $10-15 per stone.
@@RoysRocks cool man, thanks for the answer. where can i buy such parcels? im in the usa, so i would have to order online. any suggestions?
@@redeyestones3738 Opalauctions is a great site for all sorts of opal (just be cautious of "sales" or "reduced" prices). Otherwise Nick Hoops is on facebook (think he sells internationally).
@@RoysRocks cool, thanks. I'll have to check out their site. I don't use Facebook.
I've made an order with Murray, and he seems like a good bloke. But I like to check out options. Thanks again.
@@redeyestones3738 You are a wise man to not have a facebook. I know there was someone over in the USA that was bulk buying boulder opal to on sell domestically at reasonable prices... I just cant remember the name.
Evenin' Roy.
Evening. 0700 here and hammering down rain. Have to go to work in it. =(
Bet the weather is better where you are.
@@RoysRocks unseasonably cool with highs in the mid to upper 80's F lows in the upper 60's F but......not an opal in sight!
@@ManMountainMetals Damn soo far away and yet we are experiencing the same weather. Pretty rare. A lot of opals in sight where I am though.
Can you please give me a piece of black Rough opal thank you .ps: your videos are in sane there even better then black opal direct and I watch him a bit
Lol I dont know I am up to the Black Opal Direct level of quality yet. He has one or two... or even 20 years on me. =)
I'll keep working on it though.
What site do I go to to buy stuff?
What kind of stuff are you after?
@@RoysRocks I'm looking to start doing opal so tips and cerium oxide
@@RoysRocks and of course some rough parcels
@@jimconnors2500 Are you in Aus? I'm selling pretty much everything I use privately before launching a website and opening it up to non-viewers.
@@RoysRocks no I'm in New Jersey USA but I know I want lightning ridge opal lol. I will get a wheel down the road
These clay inclusions are the only thing I really don't like to see when working with Boulder Opal☹ so annoying sometimes.
It can sure get messy but at least it is soft and easy to remove. I find it quite fun for some reason.
@@RoysRocks ya but when you then remove it and it goes far into the stone, then you could end up with one or more deep holes in the stone, which I find pretty problematic sometimes. And when you don't remove the stuff, then you pretty much just can keep the stone for yourself but not selling it anymore, because the clay could over time come out of the stone at the person who purchased the stone. Or one could fill the holes with resin, I don't know.
@@Der_Kleine_Mann Yeah many do exactly just that in terms of resin treating. Similar to andamooka matrix it plugs those holes and allows a high polish.
Boulder can be quite tough unless you get the high quality full faced stuff.
@@RoysRocks I always buy a mix of everything, so there is material with veins and matrix material, and most of the material is very nice and stable, but sometimes there are a few of the matrix pieces that are a conglomerate which also contains pockets of clay and I don't really think that they're worth the effort and that's why I just leave them behind when I spot them. Maybe I'll try to treat one with resin and see how it goes because except for the clay the material can look pretty interesting.
@@RoysRocks This is the material that I've bought about a week ago
czcams.com/video/6TquyDK53IY/video.html
czcams.com/video/gTVTJ3tzPx8/video.html