How to Remove a Scratch From Opals and Polish
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 พ.ย. 2021
- How to Remove a Scratch From Opals and Polish -I love using opals in jewelry! Opals are a bit fragile and it is easy to get an accidental scratch or nick. Is your opal ruined? Hell No! I will show you an easy way to remove scratches and polish opal to a high shine using simple, low-tech tools, no fancy lapidary equipment required! Most metalsmiths think expensive lapidary equipment is the only way to repolish stones but repolishing stones, especially soft stones like opal, by hand is easier than you think. We will use cerium oxide to fix scratches and polish opal back to its original shine.
To purchase magic sandpaper or any of my other metalsmithing tool favorites, please visit
www.jewelryartstoolsco.com/shop
Thank you for saving my opal!! Exactly what I needed to see 😅
I am so glad it helped! :)
Theoplals that I mentioned have fine line scratches and a little cloudy Steve fleischman
This method should work for them. :)
thank you! my partner just proposed with a bezel set australian opal four days ago and today i noticed a little cloudy edge happening :'(
Ahh, could maybe be some small scratches. Look under magnification to check for sure.
Thanks for this tip, very helpful. Will this method work for moonstones?
Sure! Cerium oxide polishes soft gemstones beautifully😃
How would you get rid of scratches in a cubic zirconia?
I have never polished it, sorry that I don’t know.
Amazing. Can all opals be restored? I’ve heard that over time they may lose their color or become scratched and dull?
Scratches can usually be rebuffed but I have seen intefnal cracks that no buffing could repair.
Oops *internal :)
Would you bezel set an Opal or is it saver to glue it on? Thank you ❤
I usually bezel set it, sometimes I add a bit of glue as well but always inside a bezel.
Hi Jeanette,
For opals that absorb water, like Ethiopian Welo opals, can cerilium oxide still be used?
Thanks. Great video.
Working with Ethiopian opal is a very different experience. I wouldn't experiment with a customers stone like that, it has the potential to crack as it drys due to how the stone drys out. If it's not perfectly polished the part that's not polished allows the water to escape quicker changing the internal stone pressure causing it to crack. If you want to work with it make sure you take your time and make sure it's prefect. To answer your original question yes you can use cerilium oxide. It's what I use. If you want more information pulitzer opal has a very informational video on the process. Good luck!
@@Neilsrings Thanks for the info. I bought a small opal online that has a brown spot. Thought I would use it as a tester.
@@SP-fy4fx I would really recommend checking out that video. I don't think I would have been able to cut Ethiopian opal without watching it. Best of luck!
Yes, cerium oxide is fine but as others have mentioned, Ethiopian opal is tricky. :)
Hi my name is Steve Fleischman I live in Joshua tree California need to purchase the circumference oxcide I have a platinum bezel set and gold bezel seopal rings saw your vidio looks easy enough to also purchase the fine sand paper enjoyed the vidio what a difference in the before and after
This technique works great, cerium oxide, water, leather and elbow grease.
Can you use this method on facets or is it only for smooth dome?
You can use this method on facets but you need to be a bit more careful how you rub it. 😃
What if the cabochon opal stone is on a ring set with prongs? 😞
You can use the same method to clean up the scratch.
Will this method work on other stones of similar softness like amethyst? Or is cerium oxcide only
recommended for certain stones?
Cerium oxide works on lots of stone but a few, like garnet, prefer aluminum oxide. :)
@@JewelryArts Finally got around to getting the fine grit sand papers, leather, and cerium oxide and it only took me a few short hours to slowly sand out and polish the scratches on an amethyst set in a vintage silver money clip I have! Thank you so much for sharing this info!
You are so very welcome! :)@@Demonanimator