Carving Opal with Whetstones - Full Process (Black Opal Direct beginners parcel rock #1/12)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.ย. 2024
- Carving Opal with Whetstones - Full Process (B.O.D. beginners parcel rock #1/12)
A fairly in depth guide in to how to hand carve and polish an opal using whetstones and cerium oxide on leather.
The opal its self revealed a few surprises along the way.
The opal is a lightning ridge opal sold within a beginners parcel sold on the Black Opal Direct website (blackopaldirec...) so thank you Justin, Ruth and Melinda for the surprising opal. I recorded an unboxing a few days ago ( • Black Opal Direct Begi... ).
More videos to come...
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so precious..a contraluze jelly picture opal? Amazing. What a gift.
Man my fingers hurt just thinking about doing more stones on the whetstone. Should update this video though some time soon. Gave away these whetstones though unfortunately.
Your videos are so refreshing, a nice take on this topic. I have just started using these tools for my rough purchases, all trial and error. Keeping it real, thank you.
Good luck with it! Patience is key if you are using whetstones. A chip will set you back massively so avoid at all costs and you'll be fine. =)
Oldy but a goldy!
Haha I remember the hand cramps I got after this one! ✋😲
good to see you enjoying the process mate, keep up the good work :) all opal is a gamble, good to see you started with one where you , at the minimum, knew you weren't looking hundreds, if not thousands for a small first parcel.
Always good to start at the bottom and work your way up thats for sure. A $20 mistake is much better than a $2000 mistake. Thanks for checking out the video.
The inclusion is cool looking! Pretty bluish purple flash!
I'm a big fan of the inclusion. I forget it even has a purple flash lol.
Hey man. I'm with you now. I am just starting opal cutting for a hobby and I have bought more sandpaper than ever in my life. Also I enjoy watching you start from where I am hopefully going to be soon.
Nice one man. I was playing with the sandpaper method for 2 years or so and it's rough on the fingers but good fun.
If you are a fan after that you can slowly build your tools up and you'll be a champ in no time.
Have you graduated to burrs and nova yet.?
how do you afford the opal to cut? do you buy it or mine it yourself?
Your stone had the beginnings of "script pattern"opal. You mentioned the look of chinese writing, that is the script pattern. Very interesting stone, pity there wasnt colour in the script pattern, be worth a fortune. Nonetheless ripper stone. Have a look at BOD for his recent video on the unveiling of a "script pattern"stone Justin did, unfortunately a big sand spot was in the middle of it, but he is going to do a series of videos of the stone from beginning to end. Thank you for a great video, I learnt a heap from you. You made it easy to follow. Keep up the great work.
I dont really want to let the world of insane levels of political correctness infiltrate opals so I will stick to "chinese writing" pattern for now.
It is in no way insulting to them and I work with a lot of chinese in my day job (in fact I am the only one on my team that isnt chinese) and when I told them about "script pattern" they just laughed. It is more insulting to them to change it now which comes across as anti Chinese sentiment of which there is a lot of right now. Very disappointing state of affairs.
Try a felt nail and superglue your cabochon to it. Put the nail into a dremel then polish with compound on a surface of your choice. I use a leather polishing cloth stretched over a rubber sanding block
This is actually an interesting idea and I think I might give it a shot. Thanks.
nice hack !
I also use diamond files to shape and bevel the edges...works great...just wanted to say great video
I still haven't tried diamond files yet but have heard many that do.
@@RoysRocks just ordered another set...
Super educational video, my friend. Justin has good Opal items.
15:30 looks like there are old Viking runes included😁😉
(Kenneth Prospecting Norway)
Not familiar with "Viking runes, Kenneth Prospecting Norway" But will check it out.
Roys Rocks ᚠᚢᚦᚨᚱᚲ
Talking of cerium oxide before I managed to get some I bought jewellers rouge paste and on a couple of stones I've had quite a good result. Wow it does look like a little tree nice one.
Nice. I'm sure as long as the polish has a fine enough grit it should work. Oh I remember this little stone such a wonderful inclusion.
It's faster than sandpaper. It takes a long time, I did a few stones entirely with sandpaper.
I've found that whetstone shaping can be a little easier, and more comfortable, if you dop the stone. It helps keep your knuckles and finger tips from rubbing on the whetstone.
I think its good to have the skills, though, to form stones with whetstone and sandpaper.
It is definitely a caveman technique so very slow but was still a lot of fun in the very early days of uni with a shared townhouse (can't be too loud). I must have done it soo much I could avoid scraping my fingers and knuckles at all. 🤣
@@RoysRocks I'd actually recommend these methods to beginners, it helps you discover how each type of matrix and potch wears on each surface and, as it takes nearly FOREVER is a lot more forgiving of mistakes. Learning to free-form ovals and circles by hand helps develop the muscle memory so that when you start using burrs and nova tips you'll make far fewer mistakes, and less egregious mistakes.
I've bought 2 of Justin's beginner parcels. The first had 40+ stones, I haven't even gotten through all of them. The second has 10 rocks, 5 are just witch hat specimens (major disappointment, the first parcel spoiled me) and the remaining five have blue hints so should yield something opaly.
One of those 5 has blue, purple and green in a thin bar that appears it may be pin fire pattern.
I have 3 more parcels on the way, 2 from absolute opals and one from ado opals on opal auctions. But, man, it takes forever to ship from Australia right now. Three weeks from ordering the first absolute opal parcel and it just NOW hit customs in San Francisco (boo hoo, simp, whine...lol).
@@RoysRocks learning how to hold tiny, wet, slippery, irregular rocks and still being able to scrap them on sandpaper, all without removing skin, is a skill and an art. But it's doable.
@@ThatOpalGuy Any opal work by hand gives you a crazy understanding and connection to the material. You can feel and see things that you completely miss using a cabbing machine.
Dont get me started on postage I feel like I am always waiting for something.
In the ballpark of 750ish,you can get quite bright possibilities.I personally have spent well north of that for a specific color request on a job for a customer.
I usually do figure 80 to 90 PCT loss. So if I need a stone of 5 carats, I just figure using a little math plus some extra(just in case).
Lastly, the will read your requests and questions. Never have I known them to come close to anything not on the up and up. But as I have done, ask them if they have bright greens in flagstone. Or Chinese writing with a spot to put a nice stone in it.
Good luck( and they did have the Chinese writing one)
I have a few stones from rough just below that ballpark but only carved one (prior to starting the channel) but will get to it again soon. Time is not my friend currently though with a new job. =(
Thank you so much for sharing your processes and knowledge with us! Do you think this method would be alright for Ethiopian opal? I am just starting out and would love to practice with this method before using my dremel :)
I haven't tried it personally but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Might have to be a little more gentle to not cause fractures? One day I will try it.
@@RoysRocks thank you for the response! I am going to try my luck at it tonight and see how it goes! ^-^
To hell with the value of the colour, check out this through the loupe! I think we may be related. 'Can't cut that one it looks like a ....!'
New subscriber here, cheers.
32:00 hahaha, I grazed the side of 2 finger tips to the whet stone a few days back. Just about heeled enough to get back into it!
The inclusion looks like an aerial shot down through the tree canopy with a scaffold below it.
I still love this stone! Such a great pattern!
The whetstones can bite that's for sure. Sandpaper can attack the fingers too. My dremel is much kinder to my fingers. 👌😁
Whoa Roy, so cool. Something I would really like to try, is BOD still offering these beginner packages?
Dunno I havent looked for a while. I knw they were always out of stock.
I admire your patience! Nice looking stone at the end though!
Whetstones do take a lot of patience but if it is all you have it does work.
Roys Rocks Indeed! Whatever the approach, the results of this hobby are always rewarding! Out of laziness I’d probably be tempted to use a rotary /orbital sander (fixed or mounted in some way) but that’s me just dreaming....
Id recommend the rotary tool for sure. Can get a stone done just as well and if not better in a tenth of the time!
Honnestly by hand is only if you like it. The rotatory tool you can get for $40 usd+ tips the wet stone is just as expencive on the end.
I think I got my whetstones for about $10 each off ebay but I agree. You can get a good rotary tool and flex shaft combo for $50AUD easy.
Nice vid Roy earned my sub, I’m guessing Justin would call that script pattern but it’s more holographic seeing’s how it’s not showing colour. Looking forward to the next video 👍👍👍
Yeah some people have said it is Chinese writing/script but without the colour it's more interesting than valuable. I was quite happy with it way back then.
It was trying so hard to be big boy pattern. Still, it's pretty unique and very cool.
Awesome stone!
Thanks man, I was quite surprised with it myself. This one I will hold on to for life I think.
This is an amazing video & love that 53frogs recommended ur videos since im just getting into hand carving.
You going with the whetstone method or sandpaper? I'd say sandpaper is a little better since it is easy to stock up at a hardware store.
@@RoysRocks im planning on whetstone method & dremel method... I live off grid so sometimes I have power to run a dremel but the rest of the time I have to do without power tools... ive tried sand paper method & they wear out too fast in my opinion & can cost s pretty penny in Hawaii... as much as 7$ per sheet & thats after shipping
@@joshuablack2446 Wow at $7 per sheet I understand the whetstone choice.
Very interesting !
Thanks Mike.
Yeah, when I was working my stone, I pressed too hard on the 1000, 3000 and 8000 and spent way more time than needed on the last 3. Thank you for clarifying that for me. On the 8000, the stone felt like it was gliding on the stone. That's how I knew I was done.
Its great that you recognize that feeling. It can take a long time to get the feel for that but once you have it you can be much more efficient and confident.
@@RoysRocks Would you say it's okay to start by using a dremel and then transition to whetstones?
@@NarekGaming Sure. If you dont have nova points you could do the rough carving with a diamond bit then go to the whetstones for the finer grinding/pre-polishing.
@@RoysRocks Awesome. Thank you for helping me!
@@NarekGaming No worries my friend. Anytime.
Gotta get me some whetstones ...new sub
Hi. Thanks for deeming me worth a sub.
Cheap whetstones are a good way to go. Takes a bit of work but you can get a real nice finish and they last for a long time.
If this opal had more purple and slightly bigger with no inclusions, could it be worth 200 to 300 you think, I never know how to price them
Probably hard to reach that price on a piece like this even if it was brighter. That's if we are talking wholesale prices but retail price you are probably right.
You should try a dremel much easier and quicker. Good quality stones, I just spent 50 bucks for rubbish sandy color opal.
This video was specifically made to show the whetstone method. I've been using a dremel for over 3 years 😁
@@RoysRocks yes sorry I looked through the rest of your videos and meant to delete my comment. Great videos by the way thanks for the info. I think I asked where you get your sintered diamond bits from and found them on gem cuts but they are out of stock . Do you have them and if so how much you’re selling them ?
@@stellau3028 Yeah I do have some if you want to send me an email. I sell them for $70AUD a set plus postage.
@@RoysRocks sorry stupid question couldn’t find your email 😏
@@stellau3028 roys.rocks@yahoo.com
Hey do you have a link to the whetstones you used here?
No that was from some random ebay seller that doesn't exist anymore but they were nothing special. I'd probably favour sandpaper over whetstones anyway.
I like to use diamond stones
Anything with grit should do the trick really.
The wanna be script pattern is pretty cool.
Got very lucky with that. Even though it isn't a colourful stone at least it is interesting.
@@RoysRocks sometimes those are best, especially when you're a beginner. My first BOD parcel had a stone(about 9x5 mm) that had wonderful n1 black potch and a thin color bar (sadly only covers about 40% of the stone) that has EVERY color imaginable and several patterns. It's my pride, definitely more than expected from a beginner parcel. parcels. Never sell that one.
Are you kidding me just use your hands and do it and quit talking concentrate concentrate you're a beginner man you know you're not there to give advice I tell you that
The whole point of the channel is to help people get in to opal and this video shows just one cheap option. No point recording if I say nothing.
Also... this is a video from a year and a half ago LOL. 🤣