How do you dop small opals?

[Neural]

I see a lot of calibrated opals (often in sets) on O.A., and was just wondering how on earth people dop such tiny opals (for example, 7mm x 5mm, 3mm rounds, etc).

[Stuart Wheeler]

HI Neural,

I use quick set wood glue on a dow stick slightly smaller than the opal (nail, dow, golf tee), leave over night to set. Some people use dop wax but i find it fidderly, yes you can cut straight away with dop wax but the hassle is not worth it. So i tend to glue up 50+ stones and leave for the next day.

Hope that helps

Stuart

[Neural]

Hi Stuart, thanks for the reply. I guess I can try a golf tee. They seem a bit cumbersome for something that small though. I'm just amazed at how small some stones are cut.

[bolsa]

hey there Neural sometimes I will go to the hardware store and pick up wood dowls of varieous sizes and use the hot glue gun the glue sticks also comes in differant strengths i like the harder ones for the smaller opals cause they don't have the surface area that my larger ones do so it needs to be tougher glue to take the viberation better also gorilla glue works but getting it off the stick is a beotch.

[azvinnie]

Hiya' Neural. I also got ambitious enough recently to cut some 1/4" dowels into 3 1/2 and 4" lengths. Sharpened the ends in a pencil sharpener and used plain ol' while "all-purpose" glue. Seems to work great if allowed to dry for about an hour. Overnight is best, as Stuart said, but sometimes I'm not that patient. But if dopping several, then going back to rubbing or preforming other ones for a while it's fine. Is lots faster than dopping with wax for the small ones. The un-sharpened ends of 1/4" dowels work well for medium-size stones.

Next thing (next time I'm ambitious) will be to drill the ends of some 3/8" dowels so I can glue a nail into the dowel. Really like the feel of the wood dowels lot better than holding on to a wet nail. Someone else mentioned that on here somewhere. The nail heads with the wooden handles would be for dopping large stones with wax. The 3/8" dowels might be larger than some folks would feel comfortable with, but since I have fairly large hands I want to give it a try.

Vinnie.

[soulsun]

I'm partial to using nails and super glue for small opals.

Vinnie, to avoid the wet nail problems, I've cut thin strips (< 1/4" wide) of safety strips used for slippery steps, available at any hardware store, and wrapped them around the nail. They provide excellent grip for the fingers even when wet. They don't last very long, maybe a couple of stones before they start to peel off, but a little super glue will reattach them and they aren't that expensive to start w/.

I am also going to have one of the machinists at work cut me some dops from aluminum stock that are knurled for better grip and see how they work.

Stuart, great website!!! Thanks for the info on treating Andamooka matrix, of all the methods I've seen so far, yours sounds the most user friendly. I hope to give it a try this spring. Quick question, when you slab your concrete, do you cut vertically across the bars or horizontally w/ the bars?

Scott

[Stuart Wheeler]

HI Scott,

I will normally do a few test cuts first on each stone to see where the best fire lays..... face up or through the fire lines. The materail tends to be very cheap so there is no great lose in the off cuts, of cause these can be still used for stones. As the opal tends to run throughout the stone, try to aim for the brightest angle. Can produce some interesting patterns.

When you do the treatment you may have to do it again to get a really dark finish (the stones on my site could do with another treatment). It does depend on the rough as to how well it takes. Its good fun to do and the results are always pleasing.

Stuart

[soulsun]

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for the input. Sorry for the delayed reply.

Kinda what I thought. The color is basically like any other opal, it can face better one way instead of another and it all depends on the whim of the opal Gods. Cut a couple of small pieces each way and see which looks better. I have 2 pieces (little bigger than fist size) weighing 1 kilo total, so I have plenty to play w/.

Now I just have to get around to cleaning my saw and making a short run w/ water.

Thanks again,

Scott

[jewells4me]

I have found that chop sticks work really well especcially if they have tapered ends as they can be trimmed to suit the size of stone tooth picks matches and skewer sticks also work well I have also used coloured pencils all nice and tapered. Paddle pop sticks are good too as you can trim them down the sides real small like..I use a large magnifying glass on a bendy rod when using these small sticks as you need to look after your eyes as eye strain isnt good for you. In the base and up the rear of the cutting machine place a cut up jean type of material that will save these precious beauties if they happen to go flying as its tragic to lose one to fragments...

[Voltaire]

I use a nail with a small head to cabb it. Keeping my loupe in the ready.
Just use normal dop wax, opal isn't to hard so you don't have to apply as much pressure to cabb it.

Heating the nail then "poking" trough the wax until I get off a acceptable amount to use. Press the stone to it and take a coffee break.
Just takes practice to get it right..

[mehoose]

On an opal dvd I have, they use the white wood craft glue for dopping small stones.

PVA glue I think from the hardware store.

[jewells4me]

Im gonna try pva glue doesnt it take a while to set i suppose u could prop it up till dry, or do you use it half sticky i usually use dopping wax black i think but it does have to be hot and i usually heat the stone first ..is this advisable tricky with tweezers long nose pointy ones from hospital ..I have cracked some tho getting to hot. maybe they had cracks anyway.. will this work ok with ethiopian crystal. Are they removed in freezer ? .... Bruce.

[mehoose]

Bruce, they just sit the dops upright in sand till try. Then soak in warm water to release the stones. So there's no getting the opal hot with dopping.