This week I have a stunning 40 carat Lightning Ridge nobby on the wheel. It's half potch, half color, with gorgeous blue and purple running right through it. That kind of split is exactly what you ...
This 13.25 carat nobby came from one of the most stunning parcels of rough I've had my hands on in a long time. This video will be part of a series where I cut every nice piece of rough from that p...
Months of planning, a pegged claim and a dream that started long before the first bucket of dirt was ever pulled from the ground. This is Justin and Saxon's Lightning Ridge opal mining operation. P...
I just got back from Lightning Ridge and brought something back that had me buzzing. A parcel of fossilised opal that looks like it was once a massive piece of ancient wood, millions of years in th...
The moment I saw this black opal nobby from Lightning Ridge, it caught my eye for one very specific reason. The potch line was almost perfect and the color looked like it could be a near match to o...
I think I've found the solution for anyone who has been wanting to learn opal cutting but can't quite justify the cost of a full professional setup. This budget-friendly, 3D printed opal cutting ma...
From the outside, this blue Lightning Ridge nobby looked unassuming. Nothing about it screamed cut me until I shone the Gemfish through it... What I discovered was a very dark body tone with no po...
Every now and then a piece of rough tells you exactly what it wants to be. This was one of those pieces. A glassy Lightning Ridge crystal opal with a white cap and a hidden layer of orange sitting ...
Lightning Ridge is a small outback town in northern New South Wales, about 770km from Sydney, and it's unlike anywhere else in Australia. It's famous for black opals but there's plenty more to see ...