Last year we brought you the story of 14 yr old Steiner Florian who told us how he cut an opal by hand. You can catch up here. We were all fascinated and the amazing Black Opal community got really...
Gems emerge from rough opal…Sometimes its a real challenge to work out what to do with a piece of rough opal.While Justin may be the expert, he also finds time spent examining a piece of rough is i...
In this latest video watch master cutter Justin from Black Opal Direct show you how to improve the value of opal.Justin happily shows you a gem grade Black Opal which has a visible ‘black mark’ on...
What opal cutting wheels do I need is an often asked question. In this video, Justin will show you exactly what your options are.We start at the beginning with a 200-250 grit wheel for the rubbing ...
Thank you to all in our community for making Christmas special for someone. A few weeks ago we brought you the story of Steiner Florian, a 14-year-old boy who has been opal cutting with sandpaper a...
Yesterday morning I was sent an image on Facebook by someone who asked if the stone was a real opal. As you can see from the image I thought that it was and to me, it looks like Australian material...
We all know that Lightning Ridge black opal is some of the best in the world. Unfortunately, along with being the best, it is also the toughest to find, but once you have been lucky enough to find ...
Today Justin shows you a top gem black opal being recut. A customer sent the opal because it was slightly out of shape and didn’t present well, considering an asking price of around $50,000.Justin ...
A customer bought a rough piece of opal and was unsure how it should be cut. He decided to send it back, so Justin cut it… tune in to watch a black opal emerge. Normally, we would re-list any stone...