[Jewelry making - Article 01023] - Re: [Orchid] Boulder Opal Polish

[Rick Martin]

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>         Is there a way that I can re-finish the surface of the opal,
>     easily and gently w/wo removing it from the bezel setting. Thanks,
>     in advance, for all help. 

    There is a way to re-polish the entire face of the stone, right up
    to the bezel, but unless you have lots of lapidary experience I
    strongly recommend that you find someone with the know-how to do the
    job.  The technique is too involved to explain here.  Much depends on
    the type of opal in question, the kind of ironstone matrix, the
    location and depth of the scratches, etc. There is no single kind of
    opal classified as "boulder opal."  It comes from a number of
    locations in Australia and while certain characteristics are shared,
    each kind has its own "personality" and handling tricks.  The matrix
    on some is very hard and takes a fantastic polish; other matrix can
    be porous, even somewhat crumbly.  The depth of the opal can be a
    very thin film to a millimeter or so.  Removing deep scratches might
    alter the opal's appearance in some cases.  I would urge you NOT to
    try to remove a boulder opal using a blade between the stone and
    bezel, especially if the stone is valuable.  Depending on how the
    piece is constructed, it might be a better idea to use a slitting
    disk or file to remove the bezel wire, cutting carefully along the
    base plate until the stone can be removed.  It's a much better idea
    to rebuild the bezel than to risk damaging the stone.  Even an
    inexpensive boulder opal, if broken, will be hard to replace with an
    identical shape so you'll probably end up re-bezeling anyway.  I'd
    be happy to take a look at it and let you know if I think a re-polish
    in the setting would be the way to go.  Email me direct with a jpeg.
    The cost for a job like that wouldn't be a lot, but there's postage
    and insurance to think of. 

Rick Martin
MARTIN DESIGNS

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