Opal Repairs without machinery
Opal Repairs without machinery- in ten steps
If you don’t have any machinery, you can do it by hand this way:
- You have to find a piece of opal that that is not too large so that it can be handled easily and has a fairly flat or domed surface.
- Buy yourself some wet and dry sandpaper from the hardware store. If you need to take a lot of material off to get to the color or to shape it a bit, you will need to get some 220 grit sandpaper. You can attach the sandpaper to a small block of wood by wrapping it around the block and stapling it or nailing it to the back.
- You can make another block of wood using 320 grit sandpaper, then 600 grit, and finally 1200 grit.
- You can then stick some split chrome leather to another block of wood. You might have to ask someone in a shop that repairs leather goods to find out what this is. It’s usually green tough leather, rough on one side.
- You have to get some cerium or tin oxide for the final polish. You can get it from a lapidary (stone cutting) supplier, or someone who has to polish scratches out of glass. People who make headstones for graves also use it and maybe people who do terrazzo polishing of tiles.
- If you want to get a bit more sophisticated you can buy one of those dremmel machines from the hardware store which gives you a whole bunch of little wheels. In this way you can cut the sandpaper and the leather into little discs, and stick them on to rubberized mini discs that come with the machine. You can use the rubber from old bike or tire tubes for this.
- Get some contact cement from the hardware store for all your sticking needs but if you are using a mini disc, first you cement the rubber on to the disc with contact cement, then stick the sandpaper onto the rubber using disc cement which is like contact cement but remains sticky. Remember to allow the contact cement to dry overnight before putting the sandpaper on or it will be too tacky.
- When sticking with contact cement, you put the cement on both sides of whatever you are sticking together and let it dry for about fifteen minutes before pressing the two surfaces together.
- You will have to do it this way when you cement the leather on to the rubber. Then you make slurry with water and cerium oxide and put some on the leather. You can also put some on the opal you are polishing.
- Just experiment until you get the hang of it. Opal repairs without machinery takes a bit of time to get the hang of. Just make sure all fine scratches are out of the opal before you attempt to polish it with cerium. So this is a method you can use to polish an opal with little or no equipment. Of course, if you want to learn how to do it properly, using opal cutting machinery that you can either make yourself, or purchase, please go to here for some advice and a short video. Our opal eBook is now available freely to Opalmine visitors. This gives you over 30 years of experience in mining, cutting, setting, and marketing opal. If you don’t understand some of the comments made here, just leave a message on the blog at opalmine.
Not so difficult if you follow the steps above carefully.
Just take it one step at a time, and leave a message for us here if needed or take a more in-depth look at the subject if you want to learn opal cutting properly here If you have a scratch on your stone which is set in a ring or pendant, you will just have to take it more carefully using smaller pieces of sandpaper and a cloth with cerium oxide. opal repairs without machinery is possible in this situation. Talk to us about it in the contacts form if you need help.
We hope that this article, which is the result of a combined experience of over 40 years in the opal industry from the time when i personally had to learn how to do Opal Repairs without machinery. If you would like to see our new movie on the subject, leave your details in the blog below or fill in the contacts form.
Thank you very much for answering to my problem.
I have a small heart shaped pendant with a white opal in the center, surrounded by diamonds. tonight, after my shower, i noticed, that the opal was really dull looking, its color changed a little from white to yellowish (a bit like stained teeth maybe). when lookin closely, the original shine can still be seen a little. i used to only wear the necklace for special occasions but i kept it on after christmas, for a change. i usually shower with my “everyday” jewelry on, so i never thought about it much but i am really worried that i might have ruined the gem.
EDIT: over night, it turned from the yellowish tint back to a milky color….it began in the center of the gem and then “moved” outwards. there is still a tiny hint of a red reflection in it now….i’m sorry the pictures are not great, i couldn’t used the flash because of the reflects from the diamonds….
Questions: can the opal be “fixed”? if not, could it be replaced with an australian white opal? what about would be the cost of that?
thanks so much in advance for your answers
best regards,
Sarleas
Thank you very much for answering to my problem.
I have a small heartshaped pendant with a white opal in the center, surrounded by diamonds. tonight, after my shower i noticed, that the opal was really dull looking, its color changed a little from white to yellowish ( a bit like stained teeth maybe). when looking closely, the original shine can still be seen a little. i used to only wear the necklace for special occasions but i kept it on after christmas, for a change. i usually shower with my “everyday” jewelry on, so i never thought about it much but i am really worried that i might have ruined the gem.
thank you so much in advance for your answer!
best regards,
sarleas
sorry for the double posting earlier, somthing went wrong with my connection and it posted it twice.
going to send you pictures by email, as it seems i can’t attach them on this forum.
No problems Sarleas. i got your picture and as i mentioned in the email, i couldnt really tell what the problem is with the opal because the picture wasnt clear enough. if it needs polishing, just read the information here and if its not deeply scratched, try to get on to some cerium or tin oxide and give it a heavy rub using a cotton cloth. It should bring the lustre up again. make a paste out of the dry polish and rub it vigerously. hope this helps you. Peter
here’s me again
i’m sorry i wasn’t able to take clearer pictures, i might give it a try again later….
now, just generally, without any pictures and all, could you tell me HOW a white opal could be damaged? i mean, the stone was fine until i wore it in the shower, it might have got some soap on it….would that be enough to damage it?
i read that soaking it in water might help to “restore” it….would just redoing the surface with the instructions you’ve posted above clear damage done by water/soap? also, i read that water, theoretically shouldn’t damage it, on contrary….
now here is what i did….i put the necklace into some water….at first nothing changed, and then, once I removed the necklace from the water, the stone started turning from “stained teeth yellow” back to milky white with its reflections….as i don’t have a picture of the stone before this incident, i cannot be quite sure, but i think it’s quite close to what it used to be….maybe a bit less “brilliant”.
I’m sorry for all my questions, i just don’t know enough about opals and their qualities….
thank you,
sarleas
Sarleas, it sounds like you might have an opal from Africa. This type of opal is called hydrophane and water effects it because of its porosity. i dont know what you can do with that. I only deal in Australian Opal which is totally secure and is not effected by water. If you know where you got it, take it back and ask for a refund. I can always find you a replacement stone but that will depend on your budget. sorry i could not be of further help but i did my best. best wishes Sarleas. Peter
I have an Australian opal pendant which I dropped and a piece has broken off . It is a triangular shape and it was a point which broke. It appears to be a very clean break. As far as I know it is a solid opal. Black on the back and mostly turquoise colours on top. Can it be glued back together? Thank you, Chris.
chris please send me a picture of it and i will try to help. just fill in the contacts form at www.opalmine.com so that we can communicate direct. best wishes, peter
Love your work!