Rough Opal, Source your rough opal or parcel rough opals direct from opal miners and wholesalers/dealers.
Rough opal s are dipped in water for photographing in order to expose the colours of the stone as if it was polished. Buyer will receive the opal rough in a dry condition.
In this dry condition the opal will not display any colour till it is polished or dipped in water again
There are many opal-cutting lapidary machines available for rubbing down opal rough and polishing opals, or make one with a basic saw blade and good polish.
When rubbing down thin colour bars it is recommended to polish slowly, as many new cutters rub away these colour bars. Some of these opals have bright fire colour if polished correctly.
Patience and time are essential elements in learning to cut and polish opal.
Rough Opal is available from all the major Australian opal fields:
Black opal rough from Lightning Ridge; knobby opal rough is rare now and most opal rough is now seam opal. Production of opal rough is down due to many opal fields worked out and only slow release of new opal fields is allowed by The Mines Department
Boulder opal rough from Queensland Opal fields Winton; Quilpie, Yowah, Koriot,These opal fields are producing good quantity of low to medium grade opals ideal for opal cutters as Quilpie has good colours and Koroit and Yowah have good opal patterns. New opal fields have not been found for several years but deposits are over thousands of square kilometres and new finds are expected soon in new opal fields
Crystal opal from Coober Pedy; Opal fields of Mintabie and Andamooka only produce small quantity of opal for sale as rough and Cooper Pedy
Ethiopian Opal rough from wello and Gondar and now mined in larger quantities and is ideal for in experienced opal cutters as thickness of the opal is common and easy not to rub all colour bar away as from aussies opal fields.
Welo opal is good to practise opal cutting as the colour bar is thick.
Care should still be taken so that patterns are not rubbed away.
Mexican rough opals. parcels of Mexican opals in potch are still popular but production is limited.
Peru opal rough is quartz like type material and has thick colour bars and easily polished
Today many opal cutters carve and polish opal rough as lapidary equipment is now relatively cheap and dremel drills with attachments do give a professional finish to opal carvings.
Opal beads are easy now to make form rough, just source a large specimen and block out in shape of bead than rub the sides but be careful that a lot of opal colour is not rubbed out when shaping bead.
View our article How to drill a hole in Opal in our opal information categories.
If a buyer rubs away any of the opal rough the seller doesn’t have to exchange the rough or refund, but if you are not happy with the rough please return to seller untouched as it arrived to you.
Buying rough is always a gamble unless sit has been rubbed down.
Generally a buyer will break even on third of this purchases, lose money on one win one and every now and than find a hidden gem in low grade parcel of rough. Good luck with your opal rough and enjoy and always wear mask and plenty of water on opal rough as dust can cause serious lung diseases. A vacuum is handy if using dry polish methods also.
Many lapidary clubs hold opal cutting competitions and also the opal forum on OpalAuctions holds regular contests. Rough opal is ideal to create a creative workmanship and Koroit rough has many slabs available that are idea to create into a one off design or to inlay other opals or minerals .
Ironstone slabs can be inlaid with crystal opal from any field and intarsia is method of joining several stones or opals to make a one off creation.
Start cutting low grade opal rough before cutting more expensive parcels
Also when purchasing a parcel of rough always rub and polish the cheaper pieces first. never rub down and polish the king stone first. this is a common mistake.
When rubbing an polishing the cheaper opals you will get abetter feeling for the opal and some levels might cut better if an opal is cut on more of an angle instead of a direct cut. so when u have polished the les expensive opals you can decide which is the bets way to cut the better more valuable opals.
When polishing undulating opals a dremel drill can be used but for larger opals and or large parcels it is best to set rubber mould on spin wheel and use different grades of sandpaper to polish but you always need vacuum when not using water.
It is important also not to lick opals as many miners do.
Water that is from opal fields or even from tap have harmful bacteria that can attack the liver.
Always have plenty fresh water and never lick or get the water splashed into your mouth so mouth patch is desirable as also some dust may chip off if your rubbing down to hard and this can cause lung disease also.
Treat opal cutting equipment with respect and keep it clean.
Many opals miners actually have cutting machines in their house and they are spotless.
Also dust can effect the last polishing wheel so always have this polishing wheel covered when not in use.
