newbie looking for info on how to work rough opal, opal Options

[allenscustom]

Happened into some Coober Pedey rough opal and opal chips. I know I have no right to be messing with gemstones - I train horses for a living! But I want to learn how to do a bit. So . . . . what can I use to just polish some of these chips rather than cut them? Some are quite small but would make lovely free form earings and so on. Remember I'm a horse trainer so, I need the poor man's methods, not the list of high dollar equipment!

Thanks!
Sherry

[Denise]

Hi Sherry and welcome to the CP forums.
Horse training would be a great job to have! Horses are amazing animals to be around!

I think you will love working stones, its very rewarding. Opal is a softer stone (5.5 - 6 on the MOHS hardness scale), so it's not to hard to do by hand with wet dry sandpaper. I have a thread going reguarding a lot of Opal that I started off by doing a heart by hand with sandpaper. The thread has a lay out of the steps and grits I used. Hopefully it will help you out some.
Rough Opal

Smaller chips can also be worked, but alot more difficult as you can imagine.

Always remember to work stones wet to control the dust and keep it (the dust) contained in the water.

We would all love to hear how it goes for you, and If you have any questions along the way, please feel free to ask. We have some very informative people here that would be glad to help. There are also several Opal threads already going that could help you learn more about Opal before begining your project.

Good luck and I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress.

Denise

[allenscustom]

Thanks. I'll look up that list of sand papers and see what I can come up with!

[Denise]

Your very welcome, I hope it goes well for you Sherry. Remember that it needs to be wet/dry sandpaper so you can keep your workings wet. Let us know how it goes for you, and if you have any more questions.