I just wanted to say: I have no idea how these videos got on my feed. I'm not into rocks, gems, cutting, or any of this. All I know is, I have to have watched 20 of your videos now. It is just mesmerizing to watch you turn that rock into a beautiful, colorful gem stone!!
X_Ultra thank you!! I make electronic music and moved 6 months ago. Have not set up my DAW. Doing it TODAY!!! Your words were GOLDEN!!!! Again, thank you!!!!
It's so crazy hey! At the beginning he says "No fast forwarding" I was thinking "I don't even make gems, I'll just skip" Then half way in I was on the edge of my seat 🤣
@@Feybred If you apply that Logic here, then you should apply it all aspects of the life, why go to Starbuck and pay too much for a coffee, make your own?
@@blackopaldirect Your response to the color reveal as you pulled the stone off the grinder and looked at it was that of several characters in Lord of the Rings. lol I would call it a subtle, if not covert, orgasm.
I inherited a pure Flagstone pattern Black Opal from my Father. It was given to my Grandfather as a gift in WW2. As a Marine fighting in the Pacific he was wounded on Iwo Jima along with almost everyone who wasn't KIA. While recovering an Australian nurse gave it to him for good luck the day before my Grandfather returned to his Platoon. It was then passed to my Father who carried with him to College in Texas, then afterwards to Vietnam. My father ended up getting appendicitis and was sent home on his first tour. He would later tell me that was the best luck he could have hoped for. He passed away last March and so now its been passed to me. I have no great War to fight, I just hope it brings me the same luck as it afforded to my Father, and Grandfather. The power of Opal is real!
God is the one who made that opal, the power of Jesus is what saves us - there’s more beauty in Heaven than even the most expensive gem in the world! 👏 ♥️
I love watching you take these rough stones and turning them into beautiful gems! My great aunt was a Gemologist and she also did similar work...and now one of my cousin's is following in her footsteps! It's a fascinating art form...
While on tour of Australian oyster farms, we ended up in Greenwell Point, NSW. While eating dinner at the Local bowling club, we asked about where was a good local business that we might buy opals for our wives, without getting skinned alive at the Sydney Airport. We were directed to an ice cream shop in Canberra to a lady whose husband had an opal mine. We met him at his house, where he laid his jewelry out on his kids trampoline for us to choose from. It was just one of the many great experiences I had while in Australia and Tasmania.
Your videos made me fall in love with opals. The amount of love, care, dedication and attention to detail you put into your work is truly inspiring. I wish you the best in your future endeavors and look forward to more amazing work! THANK YOU
This is so different cutting opal, compared to cutting, say, a diamond. You have to deal with those tricksters Potch and Sand and sometimes watch a significant amount of the raw gem disappear on the wheel. On the other hand, when the gemmy opal peaks out with a "catch me if you can" wink, you know you've done it! Thanks for taking us on these rides with you, Justin. Truth be told, you're the real gem!
Ok I just have to say, I interned at a glass blowing place and had to grind bottoms of sculptures with similar machinery. This MAN makes it look EASY. it’s holding a wet slippery stone against a wet VERY fast moving grinder and he’s making it look like a cinch with his strong and steady fingers. But dang this is hard.
The orange being in a cat's eye is amazing. You make this look a lot easier than it is. The one thing the videos can't show is the feel the stone as you're rubbing it. It's one thing if the color layer is well defined and you pretty much know where you need to go. This one gave no real indication. I saw you adjust your thoughts on what side the face of the gem would be multiple times while rubbing this. Somebody who didn't know exactly what they were doing might well have rubbed the best color off without even knowing it had been there.
This is one of my favorite videos to watch on RU-vid. Probably seen it at least 6 times. 😆 The stone, your commentary, the soundtrack, the roller coaster ride of emotions throughout the process. everything about this episode is awesome.
A bunch of years ago I went down under. My mother and I found a few dozen clam shells in an area not known for opals. We flew back to the states and not really giving any attention to the shells we brought back. One day7 while setting up my tumbler to run some Oregon Agates through one of the clams fell into the mix and I left it in the mix after the first phase of polishing found the clam to be filled with agate material. only one other was agate, but it wasnt, it was opal, it was 395 ct fire red and green fire opal. Sent it to a jeweler to wrap it in a cage for us. My mother now in her 80's still wears her opal, daily I may add.
From Kimberly Mercer or Leasure Wow you had that the whole time and thank you for saying you found in a oyster shell , I never knew they was part of this,I live on a Island oysters they eat lot off I thought only different, learning, very interesting ,Thank you
I have no doubt about your skills Justin, I think you’ll definitely be able to increase its value with every carat you remove! I predict 5-8ct result. 🤪👍
That would have to be some of the most agreeable sand I've ever seen......it just vanished as you worked!!! So,so happy for you, hope your heartbeat has returned to normal👍 😆 Your a master of your profession.....we're not worthy 🤭🤭 What I learn from you is invaluable, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
I appreciate how humble you are after all these years and still appreciate the good/successful times when you strike it right. I've been watching your channel for as long as you have been on YT. I'm still trying to learn your discernment on the quality of the different Opals. I still hope to set up my own little Opal like you have and try my hand at some low cost parcels and see what I can do. My problem is I love the color so much that I want to leave the stone where I think the color is best even if it is not a shape for setting. Bless you for all you share and thanks for letting us along for the ride of your life's work.
It does really seem that the only equipment is a big arsed wheel. No solvents, dremels, sandblasting, sonic devices, water jets or x-ray. Just guess-work, luck and a stonk of a wheel.
You are so humble about your great skill and talent. There are few who could have cut that gem without losing the lot. You are so inspiring to watch and I have learnt so much from watching you all these years. You have made me into an opal lover when previously I thought them a bit gaudy. Thanks so much for letting me see through your eyes. : )❤ Love your little celebration dances too!
Australian lightning ridge opals crystal or black are the most stunning precious most mezmorizing gems in the world.If I could afford em id spend thousands at one place and one place only BLACK OPAL DIRECT.❤ UR VIDZ.KEEP UP THE PRECIOUS WORK AND YOUR FATHER'S LEGACY.HE'D B PROUD.🙏
I have no idea about anything related to gems or gem cutting. But I watched this and felt so glad seeing your joy. Do you ever wonder why seeing a stranger feel so happy, makes you happy too? It's a beautiful part of being a part of the human species.
"A strong set of gambling muscles". Is that Aussie slang for big testicle? Anyway, what a weird and wonderful set of patterns/colors/effects in this stone. But that's the beauty of opals, right? Love the celebration. Thanks for the giggle.
Just beautiful!!! I’ve always loved Opal it was my grandmas favorite an mine but never knew the in depth of finding an different kinds till I came across your channel you have made me love them even more!!
Justin firstly let me say I only recently found your channel. My 2 young daughters and I love to sit and watch you uncover beautiful treasures through your craft,its become a special bonding moment for us,so thankyou very much. Secondly you need to believe more in yourself and your years of experience as a mastercraftmans. Thankyou for uploading this video.
Thanks Michael I am so filled up to hear it bonds you and your daughters. I do have an issue with being more confident without sounding like one of those know-alls. Even though I do know alot about opal and can answer almost any question. I don't like a know it all so I try not to be one. Its a fine line for me. :-). Thanks for the kind words
Amazing little sneak peak, going to sleep and wake up to an amazing video thank you so much Justin. Hope everything is gonig well. Quick question: you made a Lightning Ridge video 10 years back when some claims were underwater. Did they dry up and produce anything? I would love to see a breakdown on all the gems, where they exactly came from with the miners etc. Thank you so much for reading this and the content it helps in more ways than you know it !!
Omigoddddd how beautifullllll! I also love your victory dance at the end, nice booty shake !! Lol all joking aside, you have a way of creating a palpable tension to the viewer, I was willing it to be good! But also I think you gave out a very good life lesson, when you aren't sure about something, take a moment, walk away, study, ruminate and think. I do that in my artwork. Sometimes we can get so caught up in thing,s we can't see the wood for the trees. Stepping back and taking a moment can produce amazing results, not just in artwork, but in life too. Dude, you rock! Get it....rock..eh? eh!? ;) C'monnnn..that was funnnyyy!!!! lol xx
I'm so happy for you to have the stone turn out to be a 💎. I think you need to take more trips out to the fields to hand pick more. Congratulations job well done!!
@@blackopaldirect lol. perfect response. And btw, I’ve now logged a good 6 hours since my initial comment 2 days ago. I’m officially addicted to watching opals emerge. Thank you so much for sharing your art with us!
I've never seen a video like this. So what exactly happened? Did you purchase a mystery stone for 5k? Did you go find it? What kind of minerals/stone is this? Thanks
What a breathtaking gem! I had my doubts the same as you when I saw all that sand 😂 but your skill truly is masterful! Loved seeing you bring that absolute ripper to life!
Ye, who has no faith gets nowhere.... Congrats! I'm sure someone will absolutely melt at looking at this one every single time. Justin reminds me of willy wonka of opal.
IDK how this ended up in my feed but I'm so glad it did. I don't know anything about gems or jewelry for that matter, but this was very interesting to watch and I really liked the ending. That celebration dance had me lmao! You got a sub here, man.
I found this incredibly interesting. I think the way you spoke and the amount you spoke was perfect. Sometimes I find myself closing out the video over content creators talking just to talk. But I found when you spoke it was information I wanted to hear. I thought you did an excellent job. I just wanted to say that. I think if I was a content creator, I would want to hear feedback like that. So yep. Good job on the gem. I'm glad your gamble paid off and thanks for the video. Cheers.
You’re certainly among the most entertaining and endearing youtubers I’ve found who are old enough to be my dad. In fact, as awesome as my actual dad is, you’d make a really cool dad to have as well.
Somehow this stone doesn’t really speak to me as some others do. Still clearly a high value stone of course. But that’s the beauty about opals. Everyone sees something else in each Individual stone. I would have guessed it less high. But what do I know 😂
Hey that is a beautiful gem. I got some opals to turn into gems on eBay. I was surprised that they had so much color. I don’t have a wheel. I’m just using a whet stone. It wore off my nails lol. It’s slow but it works. LKL
I really like knowing the price you paid and how much they sell for. Going through an entire batch so we can appreciate how many flops you get would be nice to see too.
he mentioned the number 90% - but not sure if that was when starting out or as experienced as he is now. Guess trick is to fail cheap and win big? Anti-fragile and some other books have sections on it.
i´m so happy that this happend to a nice person like you! you made my day for sharing this with us! i have nothing to do with jewellery or somthing near this but im faling in love with opal! best wishes from germany
That's amazing. When you said you invested 5k I planned to see a big box of similar rough stones! Crazy that it was 5k for just the one. 30k in the end?! That's amazing. Loved your dance at the end 🤣
i know must costumers would prefer to buy a stone there is round/ oval / and unnatural shape... but the stone would have been so so much bigger, if it had been allowed to have and unusually shape.
@@vaporiiz yeah then it wouldn’t look so “man made”/ unnatural. and it would have it own uniqueness and more personality to it, because of its shape. and you would still be able to put gold/silver/copper wire around it and use it as a necklace or keychain attachment..
Isnt there a chemical you can use to initially dissolve the sand instead of using the grinder to reveal the solid rock, and then face it based on what is exposed?
There isn't, the sand and opal are both consist of SiO2 for the most part. Opal and other gems get their color just because they got some iron, magnesium and copper and other elements in it. You can dissolve the sand with some chemical like HF, but there is no way to protect the gem from it.
If I may ask, when you turn a gem around, do you deal with the public at large, private buyers or jewelers? I'm curious how these opals go from the ground to ultimately, the finished product (ring, broach, etc.), to a buyer?
Fantastic result really enjoyed every moment tho I couldnt get it live on my tv so I quickly watched on chrome much love and thankyou for a brilliant run ⚡💥❤💯🙏
Hey! I see that gem on your list! Honestly Justin, I was feeling down and didn't like I see at first. Then I got excited with you as it started to look promising. Gah, surprisingly, I feel so happy for you man. Great journey and glad you share your experience with us. Felt like I was there and celebrating with you 😆
Man, that was a rollercoaster even for us viewers! I spent the first 10 minutes thinking, it's just sand, I hope he get's enough RU-vid revenue to recoup some of those losses.
@@cody5495 A high paying job is not something someone just finds at will. I am skilled and earn the going rate. After 45 years in the workforce I'm not about to try something new.
@@Urban_Piggy There are plenty of videos that are good with the algorithm, but this is unique because I have followed this channel since 10k subs, and the audience is usually the same on every video.
Thank you for sharing this video! I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Loved your reaction when you saw that first bit of orange getting the sand off and then the happy dance at the end. Very lucky and beautiful piece! Question - what wheel were you using to remove the sand and potch? And at the end, was that a cerium slurry on felt for the final polish?
