Welo Opal is mined in the Welo Amhara Regional State Highland plateau. These mountains are very steep and high, up to 3,200 meters above the sea level, and make opal mining difficult and dangerous. This opal fields were only discovered in 2008 and has gained good reputation for quality Ethiopian gem crystal and hydrophane Opal.
Get MoreWelo Opal Cutting Tips from Daniel Bresien: I have purchased small parcels from several vendors over the years and have used the following procedure with about 50% of the stones being cuttable. Sand at each grit until you feel that it has been smoothed out enough to proceed to the next. Pull off the caulk.
Get MoreEthiopian Welo Opals For Sale. Small Parcels-Rough Ethiopian Welo Opals; ... Place the belt over an expanding drum or old grinding wheel of the same diameter (just to give it a solid backing) and suspend on a dowel between two stacks of books or boxes so the belt/wheel hangs free and can be rotated easily by hand. ... 1200 grit belts I've ...
Get MoreHi Rich. What sort of opal are you cutting at present? Anyway, you start off with something like 320 to 400 grit, then proceed to 600 grit and finally 1200 grit, keeping in mind that when a 600 grits gets smoother after using it for a while, it can achieve just about the same pre polish as 1200. The idea it to just remove all the scratches.
Get MoreCaution: Always use goggles and water when using grinding wheels. Use water to lubricate these grinding wheels. 4" x 1-1/2" Diamond Grinding Wheel. This is a high quality diamond grinding wheel.
Get MoreGuarantee. We want you to be completely satisfied with the stones you buy from us. If you are not satisfied, for any reason, you may return a complete unaltered (please...no grinding, sanding, sawing, removing matrix or clay or soaking Welo opals in water) parcel/single stone purchase (within a 7 day inspection period...14 day international) for a refund or exchange minus …
Get MoreVery popular with people who cut sphalerite, diopside, cuprite, rhodochrosite, and other soft collector or museum stones. Welo Opal cutters love them. Soft and delicate stones such as rhodochrosite, fluorite, apatite, diopside, sphalerite, and strontium titanate have often presented difficulties in polishing. Many users have resorted to wax laps for these stones.
Get MoreThis is a very good all-around grinding wheel grit size because it's very aggressive for 1200, but doesn't leave a real bad scratch. It cuts fast so you have to be careful. My flat lap setup has an 8" flat disk, so I use a blue 1200 composite wheel on the …
Get MoreApr 29 2014 Wet Cutting vs. Dry Cutting. During a recent opal cutting class we experimented by completely dry cutting these stones. We did 5 cabochons completely dry (using diamond paste on canvas for a polish) and 5 wet. Of the wet stones 3 of 5 cracked after wetting. All of the dry cut stones finished up with no cracks.
Get MoreAnswer: Opals are very sensitive to sudden changes in temperature. If you purchase opals that have been stored in water, you'll need to dry them slowly. Opals Have a High Water Content. Before you take your opals to a gem cutter or jewelry maker, you'll have to dry them carefully and slowly.Opals do have significant water content (sometimes as high as 21%).
Get MoreWelo Opal Cutting Tips from Daniel Bresien: I have purchased small parcels from several vendors over the years and have used the following procedure with about 50% of the stones being cuttable. Read about rocks and mineral identification. Dremel 8100 Multi tool This multi tool will be perfect for all of your precision work and detailed designs.
Get MoreThen use 500 or 600 grit silicon carbide for the fine grit step. For polish, we have great success on many types of common opal with TXP aluminum oxide and cerium oxide. 8) Experiment With Cheap Material First We can't say enough about this. Don't load $1000 (or even $20) worth of opal in the barrel and hope for the best.
Get MoreThe actual amount of grit and polish depends on what you are wanting to shape and polish, size and amount. Vibratory tumblers use less grit and polish than rotary type. Normally, rotary tumblers use an 8:1 to 10:1 ratio of rock to grit and 16:1 to 20:1 ratio of rock to polishing powder. The idea is to use the least amount that would provide the ...
Get MoreDoes anyone make their own carving points for stone? Say wood loaded with either diamond paste (various grits on different points) or epoxy loaded with diamond grit? Need to cut and polish fine detail in different hardness of stone. Thought I 'd ask here on this site...not a lot out there. Am usi...
Get MoreOpal cutting often starts with the diamond blade. Diamond blades need water to be run over them to operate properly because the blade has to be kept cool while it does the job of slicing through hard material although it must be said that opal, in contrast to most other stones, is a pleasure to cut and does not wear your blades out as much as (for example) agate, chrysoprase, …
Get MoreWelo Opal Welo Opal "Ethiopian Opals" Many of the opals mined in Ethiopia are hydrophane opals, particularly from the Welo rocks. Hydrophane Opal is a fresh word designed to define a specific Opal form. Opals have been mined for thousands of years in Europe and more than 165 years in Australia. However, the finding of opals from Ethiopia and …
Get MoreOur Ethiopian opal rough is offered in two different grades. Grade A has the most consistent flash with deep colors you would expect like turquoise, deep blue and sometimes yellow and orange. Grade B is great for someone new to cutting opal. There is still flash but not as deep. Please note Grade A is pictured. Sold by the gram. Please leave notes like "looking for one …
Get MoreDepending on the stone you are polishing (My main stone is opal which is not so difficult to polish), you can use a felt buff but make sure you have all the scratches out using 500 to 700 wet and dry sandpaper. Use the 220-grit wheel and flatten its reverse side tone. Carving Opal with a Dremel - full process |. Use with either mandrel EZ402 or ...
Get MoreA grinding wheel is a precision tool with thousands of cutting points on its surface - abrasive grains that are held in place by a bond matrix (hence these are known as bonded abrasives) and separated by pores.. These pores are hollow spaces between abrasive grains and the bond, which help with the clearance of discarded metal chips in the grinding process.
Get MoreOpal Cutting | Village Smithy Opals. And mostly I use a 360-grit grinding wheel as it lessens the chance of chipping or cracking. Opal in general is relatively soft (5.5 to 6.5 on the Mohs scale) and a 220-grit or 360-grit diamond wheel cuts fast enough and also doesn't leave the deep scratches (and won't be as likely to chip) that an 80 or ...
Get More3. Heat the wax on the dop-stick. Then place your stone into the hot wax (make sure your fingers are wet to prevent the hot wax from sticking and burning you). (Note: You may need to dry the back of the stone with a little heat, or let it air dry, as the wax will not stick to a wet stone.) Turn off your heat source.
Get MoreYou can grind and shape rough opals using basic homemade equipment. You will require a Bench Grinder, a cut down plastic bucket, a length of pipe for the water feed, and a green grit wheel, for a low cost. So, if you are in need of grinding opals, for a perfect October gift to a Libra or whatever, this is one tutorial to watch, from the cooper in Lightning Ridge, Australia.
Get MoreApply the polishing grit on the lap. Take a piece of synthetic corundum and put a window in it with 600 grit diamond. Polish out this window completely on your lap. Repeat this process using all of the lap at least five times. (There is an old saying about ceramic laps: if you haven't worked on the lap for at least four hours it ain't gonna ...
Get More200mm 8 inch THK Diamond Lapidary Jewelry Grinding wheel 50mm Wide Grit 46~3000. ... Natural Ethiopian Welo Opal Rough Bulk 10-40ct Large $3/Gram+ US SELLER + GIFT. $22.00. Free shipping Free shipping Free shipping. 166 sold 166 sold 166 sold. 5-Prong Gem Holder Jewelry Making Gemstone Setting Tool R4K8. $3.48. Free shipping Free shipping …
Get MoreA+ Natural Ethiopian Welo Opal Rough Stone, Raw Crystal,October Birthstone, Jewelry Making Gemstone, Ultra Fire Striking Opal, Opal Rock, Handpicked Stone 98.20 Cts Rough Lot. 3.5 out of 5 stars. 20. $20.93.
Get MoreA typical oxide polish scenario (for me) is to cut the stone to a worn 1,200 grit lap and then polish with either cerium or aluminum oxide. That's it. Done. Oxides are one step. A diamond polish is a minimum of two steps, and many stones require 3-4 extra diamond polish stages.
Get MoreAttach 600 or 1200 mesh grit wet/dry sandpaper (cut, to match disk) to the rubber backing material after applying "3M Feathering Adhesive" to the top surface of the rubber backing material. Wait till the adhesive has dried and is slightly …
Get MoreA great favorite of those who specialize in cutting opal. The Pixie is compact and light weight. Features a durable, molded housing of G.E. Noryl that makes the machine the most lightweight, compact and efficient 4" wheel, grinding and polishing machine available. It weighs less than 30 lbs. including the lamp, and fits on a formica ...
Get More2. I recently started trying to cut the welo opals. I have fair luck with the small ones. But with the large ones it is poor luck. The best one I cut so far was clean looking at it on the surface but a light shined from the bottom up showed plenty of fissure's. Cracked opal are considered valueless, would that opal be consider valueless.
Get MoreMy jury-rigged lapidary process consisted of hand rubbing on the flat side of an old 220-grit grinding wheel resting on a table (a bit dusty). I then hand sanded on various grades of wet/dry sandpaper and hand polished on a small piece of wool blanket with tin oxide as a polishing agent. I cut some of my best opal cabochons in this crude manner ...
Get MoreWhat opal cutting wheels do I need is an often asked question. In this video, Justin will show you exactly what your options are. We start at the beginning with a 200-250 grit wheel for the rubbing process. Beware that 120 grit is too rough and will destroy your opal. Next we move to a 300-380 grit wheels for the next stage of rubbing by hand.
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