Thank you for posting this video Justin! I have been making simple jewelry for a little while now, probably 4 years. I mostly do bead work necklaces bracelets earrings and stuff like that. I'm self-taught and it's just easy stuff but it's a fun hobby. After I saw this video, I got so inspired that I went to a local gem shop and bought some low grade mostly blue potch, Australian opal with a few flashes of color. Then I bought a small cheap polishing machine and all the supplies I would need to do my own. I used your method and was able to make a pair of shiny blue earrings set in silver. I don't know how to send a picture of what I made but I wish I could show you what you inspired me to do as a first-timer. I love it so much I see myself doing this as a hobby! Thank you so much Justin, you have brought a whole new world of richness into my life and I always look forward to watching your videos! I only wish I knew when I could watch live so I could comment and talk to the others as you're cutting gems. Warmest regards from BC Canada, Renée Barnaby

Oh, this was wonderful! I had no idea it was possible to transform opal from its original form into a truly beautiful piece. I adore opals (they're my birthstone), but have only one, as here in the States, they're pricey. Suddenly - as a retiree on a fixed income - you've given me a hobby that's inexpensive, fun, and gives me greater access to my favorite gemstome! Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge with the world.

Thank you. I saw this, tried it on a small opal and got good results.. so for now i dont have to buy expensive to me machines. good stuff to pass the long winter hours stuck in the house. and i can do it while watching a movie.. 2 thumbs up..

I did my first Australian black opals today because of you. Thank you. True gemstones are not from rock but from people like you.

I'm a beginner and that's definitely the cheapest way of cutting opals I've seen. Love it a lot. Thanks for this video.

Absolutely a first-rate teacher! So much fun to watch. It gave me a new appreciation for gemstones.

Justin , Ive been watching your videos for years ! During this latest lockdown i have taken up opal jewelry making and your videos are my life line to keeping me sane , Thank you so much for being so detailed.

Hi Justin, I am very new to opal cutting and I find your videos extremely helpful. Thankyou so much for taking the time to put these videos together.

As a newbie at cutting, distinguishing and understanding colour and shaping opals, I have watched countless clips, now I finally feel confident to havd a go and try get something other than pile of sand and bits. I will be doing all by hand so should be done in a month of Sundays

Thank you! Thank you! I used your polishing technique on my antique art deco opal that was very cloudy. After just 5 minutes it has a shine again! I will work on it more when I have the time, but the cerium oxide just came and I had to try it. No jeweler was willing to polish the stone. They were afraid to remove it from the ring. The ring has prongs, but I used a thin piece of leather and put my fingers behind it so it polished fairly well around the prongs too. I don't know how to thank you. It's a very nice opal but was so dull the color couldn't shine through. Now it gorgeous again!

hey! I just wanted to say thank you for posting this video! I just used this tutorial to recut a broken coober pedy opal I was gifted! the results were phenomenal!

You saved me a lot of money mate, as I can now polish my opals without those expensive machines! Cheers from Australia!

Thank you, Justin, for this. People like me who want to do things with opals, or any type of gems and don't have the money or space for machines can do things like this by hand.

Hey Justin, another great video! Just a quick tip for you when doing it with this method. You should really soak both the sand paper and sharpening stone in water for at least a few hours and preferably overnight. This will help keep the stone lubricated and not require constant spritzing and make the paper more supple and easier to work with. Cheers!

Mate! I’m so SO glad I discovered your channel. I’m a creative person and was trying to discover a new hobby to sink me creative teeth into. And to state the obvious, it’s now opals. You have became my mentor and boy do you know your stuff. Always learning, always fun watching and listening to you ( your so funny, and I’m sure your family is embarrassed at time 😅) More comments to come, guaranteed ✌️

I'm not surprised to see such results. I mean, one just has to consider the fabulous stones in antique items pre-electricity such as those worn by the various royals that preceeded Queen Elizabeth the first, right up to Victoria, to know that such phenomenal cuts were achieved through similar techniques. And that's just the English. We could go back considerably further to see phenomenal work from Scandinavian, Egyptian, Oriential and Grecian royal houses (etc.,) to see precious gems formed into extraordinary pieces.

I got my first opal on ebay bc of your videos. Can't wait. I'm officially hooked on your channel....and always have been on opals

I very much want to start cutting and polishing Opel. Guess it's like you say "Opel fever" but also close to retirement and want a hobby that I can do inside. I think if I can do a few pieces like this by hand it might be enough to get the Nova machines. Love working with my hands but I really think I'd enjoy the machine better and would really like to set up a small workshop in a space I have. Thanks Justin I really appreciate your knowledge and the fact that you share it. It's priceless!!

wow! this takes lapidary, back to the basics, creating a totally hand crafted piece from start to finish, elevating each piece to the status of timeless art. I have to try this :)

I taught myself this technique by accident. It works very well for opal, it takes longer when polishing harder stones up to 6 mohs. I'm glad to see I got it correct.

Club fingers hit send before finishing, thank you for your input great to see your son have interest, happy cutting and lucky finds to all

Looking at You doing this was very satisfying. Your talent is bringing this stone to it's beautiest state possible. Fantastic

It sure does get me going Justin. I never would have even considered such a technique. Again, thanks.

That finished product is AMAZING. Wow, going to try this!

Really liked this video. Felt like I learned something that I could do by myself.

Thank you for the video and instructions! I've managed to get some great results from some rough Australian opal that I purchased using this method. The videos on your channel are fantastic, keep up the great work!

Thanks a lot. You are so lucky working with the most beautiful stones.

thank you, your the best giving various tips about opals. certainly a 5 star rating. would enjoy seeing you set the opal in a gold metal setting-pendant, ring, etc, using bezel, prongs, etc... that would be so enjoyable.

God Bless you I can't imagine the time that took you other than forever! Thank you for all you do you are my hero😊

Great Video - This is just what I wanted you to do . Thank you Justin .

Justin, What a great video! I had no idea that the sharpening stone was made out of corundum. I have a few stones from the Crater of Diamonds in Murphysboro, Arkansas I've been meaning to do a scratch test on, but had no idea where I was going to come up with a piece of corundum. I learned so much from you in such a short video. Thanks so much! I really love Opals ( my mom's birthstone) they are by far my favorite gem even though I have none. One day I would love to order some. I would really enjoy mining for them in Australia. That would be an adventure. If you are ever in the US in Louisiana make sure you come to Jazz Fest. Thanks again! I look forward to more of your videos.videos! Yaya!

Thank you so much!!! I am super excited to try this with a few rough opals i have. THANKS AGAIN!

Thanks Justin for taking your time, it’s certainly the process I will use,as I haven’t got any equipment 👍

This stone on the final stage is hypnotic,such beauty

Thanks! I might try that process and see how it comes out!

Thanks again for sharing your skills, this is the instruction I need to shape and polish my single raw opal 👍😁

Just getting my tools set up for polishing some Ethiopian rough (can’t afford the nice Australian rough yet) and I live in suburban Texas, where it’s tough to find the machines that help you cabochon for a decent price, so this’ll be a perfect method to try!

Thank you so much !! This is great advice !

great to see it done this way. Thank you Justin. I have been doing hundreds of stones this way only just beginning to try 4 inch combo unit. but still love doing it the so called long way. Thanks for video. I polish on a stretched piece of denim with cerium also polishes nice.

Thank you Justin. I will certainly try it

Thanks so much for showing this...I live in Las Vegas, NV...everything is shut down, i do not have lapidary equipment. So this is something I can manage till everything opens up and folks realize the crazyness..

God Bless you Justin and Than you!

That is a beautiful opal to begin with.

Thank you Justin now if I can have a gorgeous stone like that one to start with I'll look like a pro in no time!😁😁😁

Just found your channel and subscribed. I really enjoyed this video. Its something I could do at the table at night without lots of noise annoying everyone

Thankyou sooooo much for posting this great video...finally I can clean my roughs up that i bought at lightning ridge a few years ago ...i know what ill be doing on my days off coming up ...thanks again for posting

Definitely will be trying this myself !

Thanks for the demo. I have to adjust a cab myself. I hope I don’t break it.

That was very satisfying to watch. Thanks

Nice work Black Opal Direct !

Love it! This is how I learned to cut stones. Spit and sandpaper. lol Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for this video. I am going to try it for my self. You may have saved me from being 79 retired and bored to death.

Thank you for this! One of my amazing friends gifted me some beautiful unpolished opals to make jewelry with them but I was so lost as to where to start.

thank you very much for your videos showing your profession! I love it!

Wow. This is awesome and really makes me want to give it a go. How would someone go about getting knobbies ?

I am not (yet) a opal cutter, but I am a knife enthousiast. When we use a wet stones it’s recommended to soak the wet stone for about 15 minutes so it can’t damange the knife. I think it would be good for opal aswell but thats just a thought.

I love this video.

Thank you sooooo much! Think I may have found a new project 💕

Thanks, love your demeanor :D

jastin you did it just like how we do it back home with Aget and other nice rocks thangs man

Justin, thank you for sharing. Sincerely, Richard,

Thank you.. love it.

I love the color of this stone

Thank you this is going to help so much

That was awesome thanks

Verry nice- so beautiful opal

sweet think ill show this to my 6 yr old son.... ive a bucket of cooper pedy rough for him to practice on :)

so fascinating. Oh thank you so much. We humans are capable of so much if we understand patience. I love nature sooo much.

I am impressed. Very Nice.

I sure do like that one!

I think your little wedgie is beautiful! The size/proportions and colors there in are as nice ad could be. Really, what the hell would you change?!? As a recording engineer, I had the pleasure of working with Bill Withers. A saying he used referring to a great performance that a musician thought could be better; “It’s like trying to chrome plate some sterling silver.” Your wedgie is just fine. I have enjoyed your shows/classes for sometime now. Thank you for them. Sawdust B-bob r2t2 Merritt Recording Engineer, Record Plant, Los Angeles.

Thanks nice tips

Love ur videos 🙏

Awesome video! Thank you💖🌠

Beautiful piece

You lovely fella. You are a gem yourself mate. Good onya.!

Hello Justin, I love all your video's and you have tough me a lot and I thank you so much for that, I'm an October man and without knowing that was my birth stone until a few years ago and I'm sixty can you imagine that, I have been obsessed with opals for as far back as I can remember, anyway My girlfriend was born the same month and last year I bought her a beautiful Ethiopian opal ring sterling silver, well I have taught myself a lot about them reading and watching all your video's and even made my own cutting, grinding, and polishing machines, I bought the ring on ebay, the fellow had a video of the ring showed it close up and moved it around and everything and I can tell 90% of the time if there not real, this stone looked amazing and a nice size too, I received it tested the silver it was 9.25 like he said the stone was more amazing in person and the back of the stone was not covered and looked the same from both sides, well she put it on and hasn't taken it off since last Christmas OK last mouth I had tightened the prongs cause it was a little loose still we looked at it and said wow this was such a good deal we will never find another one this nice for such a good price, this is where it gets strange Three weeks had passed and I went to pick her up at work in the truck she told me the color has gone out of the stone, it looks like a jelly opal with no colors at all and you would be able to see these colors across a room if the light hit it so now I have a clear yellow stone, can you make sense of this Justin? I can't figure it out, thank you for reading all this. Stephen.B

Hey Justin love your videos! I’m just getting started into cutting and shaping stones I’ve been a die hard rock hound / gold prospector here in the motherload of California for many years and decided to take my passion to the next level I’ve recently come into possession of a 10” Covington engineering slab/ trim saw I realize that the 10” slab blades are far to thick and cause too much chipping to want to attempt and cut say opal with I was wondering if you could recommend a proper good trim saw blade that would fit the 5/8 mandrel on my machine and if continuing to use mineral oil as coolant is okay or if I need to use straight water? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Love your videos!!

Absolutely stunning. Again! ❤

thanks bro it is a very good information

Thank you for this video, just what I needed so I can play with my roughs

Very beautiful stone

Im trying to polish very tiny round "planets" for my watch-design. Im not what to use, they are going to be around 1 mm. Is there any cheap option for this?

Outstanding Sir bravo!!

Rocks have always fascinated me :) I’m really excited about the beginners parcel, collecting the list of items I’d need. What grades were the sharpening stone?

Gonna have to try this one day, love opals.

Esta gema es un trocito de ala de ángel, seguro. Besos desde Barcelona

what powders or alternatives i can use to use polishing stones?

Great now I needa buy Cerium oxide, any alternatives? Thanks

That is actually cool. A small kit to play with something while stuck in another city or hotel room fighting boredom. Stone Tes is like this for faceted stones.

Ty!!

So did he start with the rough side or smoother side of the sharpening block?

How would charcoal toothpaste work as a polish do you think? Thanks for all your shows Beautiful stuff.

Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge, Justin! I have been trying this out, and I have one question: is there a certain kind of sandpaper to use? I just got some wet use sandpaper at the hardware store. It seems to wear out way too quickly, when I feel it, it feels smooth and I can see the paper. I am going through a lot, is that normal? Am I rubbing too hard?

thanks that was good.

I used to do Stained glass project and still have a wet grinder, could be that used to polish stones?

Beautiful

I dont know how i kept missing this. Very cool and great to know. Can the dobstick be chucked into a drill or speed adjustable rotary tool? (Good or bad,Dremel is the most famous brand ) just how small of a stone can be cut?

i have a question how would you go about removing rock around mexican fire opal with out a jewlers set up

thats a beautiful one