Ultra Thin Boulder Opal Seams. Low Probability But Always A Chance!!! Australian Boulder Opal. 

Yeah it's pretty common and can be a major pain but hopefully I showed you can end up with some useful opal if you are careful enough.

550g is a good amount to get going. Hopefully some good colour to chase in there. You'll have heaps of fun I'm sure. Even when boulder doesnt work out it is heaps of fun.

Yeah wasn't bad. Stayed in the city but now back at work.

Thanks man, More than happy to help out any beginners that come across some of your opal rough and want to dive into the world of opal cutting.

Yeah not bad. Hoping to get a few nice stones out of it with a bit more work.

Man it's finally stopped raining! Hopefully I can salvage at least 2 good stones from this piece after a slice. Then I'll call it a win.

I reckon it'll be finished stones. Hoping to get 2 or 3 from this one.

Haha no worries. Everyday I'm fighting sand, ironstone or potch. 💪

Thanks, I hope you get some gems out of the parcel. The more studying the better. Once you've got everything you can dive straight in. If there are issues you can always reach me through email with pictures and I'm happy to have a look at them for you.

Strange I can see a reply from you in the youtube notifications but I cant see it here... I use a couple of loupes. 1 that is about 10x and my main one is a 30x and 60x combo with a light. I'll make sure it appears in a future video.

Thanks Badger. Was a tricky one and I'm sure the battle will continue after a slicing.

@@RoysRocks When I see it right in the video, a slicing will give you at least one awesome stone, that only need a bit shaping and polishing. And with this color I would go for a natuaral shape to save all of this amazing color. Hope you´ll find a second stone in this piece! I´m exited how this turnes out in the end!

No worries Jo. I have thought about making them as well (though I have no use for them, I just think its a cool shape). I probably wouldn't go with boulder opal for them due to the ironstone but a good chunk of coober pedy or maybe even treated matrix could work?

Thanks. Wish it worked out a bit easier but the thin crack formation opal can be a real pain. At least it give people an idea of how it can go.

@@RoysRocks ya ,well you did really well with it ,considering how thin those bars were ,I learned some new stuff from the post ,not worked much with boulder opal ,so really helpful thanks Brian.

Doesn't need to be gem quality to be exciting. Hopefully you stumble on a strong blue on black. That was my fave combo when I started out.

Diamond is not a bad idea. I rarely cut diamond shapes. Can't even remember the last time I did.

Don't give up on boulder! As stressful as the thin "crack opal" is, it is also incredibly fun. Also you can get thicker bars which are about as easy as any other type of opal.

No UT testing capabilities in my lab but I do want to run a raman microscope across a face with thin ripples of opal. The 2D mapping of it will look super cool at high res. Only xray I have is my XRD which aint too useful for opal though I could crush some up and chuck it in for a test as well. Maybe one day I will to compare all the varieties across the world.

A single slice on a stone like this will rarely ever look good. You are a much better chance to carve layer by layer and hope that you find a nice face. Once you have one you can slice it free and try for another but just getting one is a huge win. The seams are a small fraction on a millimeter.

I can sometimes do that, but for a stone in a parcel I didn't pay anything for you really have to make up an estimated value. Also the tough part of doing that is if a person bought just this stone from a shop in Adelaide the price might be $50+ but if I buy it in a bulk parcel off someone like Nick Hoops and I average out the price across each stone it could be worth $10.

@@RoysRocks I don't think you can average the price across all of the stones in that parcel because most of those stones have no real sales value. You would take the 3 stones that were good.....then use your experience from previous sales to give them an approximate value.

@@stevieg3078 Exactly though it does depend on the seller. For example from nick hoops you could order a parcel of 10x$30 stones for $300 or being him he would discount it to $250. All opal pricing can't be generalized accurately.

@@RoysRocks My question is more....what do you think those 3 stones could be purchased for rough & unfinished. And how much are they worth finished? BTW, thank you for your time. Are you going to start selling parcels of rough unfinished rocks?

@@stevieg3078 My answer is still the same. I would not put a value on this stone as I am not selling and haven't picked a target market (supply and demand dictates price and I'm not supplying to any demand). I could pluck a value out of thin air but it would mean nothing other than what I would be willing to pay for it. Same goes for many online forums, generally the price means very little or is based on the commenters target market. The only time I put values on opal is when I buy them for a specific price. I did have plans to sell beginners parcels for people to get started but that never eventuated as it didn't feel like the right thing to do. So I started giving those parcels away. I only sell the tools needed to work the opal.

I get them manufactured and sell them off in small batches to viewers. Soon I'll launch a website where I'll list them for sale as well.

@@RoysRocks oke Nice! As long as you send them also to Europe :)

@@rickvandermeer6091 I have sent a few in that direction already so shouldn't be too much of an issue. Postage is expensive though...

Great vid. Again 👍i really want a complete set of sintered burrs and nova points,big and small bullets,netherlands to.. 😉

They can really kick colour that is for sure. You just have to get lucky on a layer and you are flying.