You speak about the greenish tinge in the black. What I compare it to is liquorice or even black tattoos that have aged. They never stay true black. This stone reminds me hematite. Probably due to its opaqueness or lack of translucency, which is why those little pops of colour appearing are so compelling. Very different to the Lightning Ridge black opal. Which, although considered not desirable, I love the dark with deep colours. This Ethiopian example behaves quite differently in that you clearly see the reds just pop out, as with all the colours. As with all the examples you show, there's distinct similarities (to Aussie opal) but absolute differences that set them apart. Thanks again for a great video, Roy.
No worries Annakeye, It is fun to explore these other opal varieties because they almost always surprise. I completely misjudged how this one was going to feel carving away but worked out. I just need to get lucky and get rid of the small pockets of air without revealing new ones...
I bought a few nodules of this stuff in Tucson a while back. It is certainly black, but the soft potch(?) inside was also black. Most of it crumbled for me although I could have gotten a small stone or two out of it. Because it was not very colorful, I gave up. The Stayish mine that has this is actually in the Wello (Wollo;Welo) area and comes from the same seam that nearly all Ethiopian opal comes from. (It’s about a meter thick and extends for hundreds of miles). This is pretty peculiar material. Maybe I should give it another chance… maybe. dp
For sure you should give it a shot. Mine was pretty study once I got through the crumbly outer parts. The annoying little pockets of air sucked though. Get rid of one for another to pop up! I'm going to hunt down more of the stuff to see some more examples rather than just this one.
@@RoysRocks I did a video on this. ruclips.net/video/Xh5zPepBZuU/видео.html. I guess that I got some pretty decent stones out of it (I looked at the end of the video), but I just didn’t have a good time cutting it. It kept falling apart. Maybe I will send it to you, if I can find it. I will buy some more next February in Tucson. I mean, I remember distinctly not being pleased with it. Maybe I will change my mind?
Tech Ingredients asked how water helps glass fracture. I found the original paper that describes the mechanism and shared it with him. There are videos that describe the mechanism. Water as a coolant isn't necessarily your friend, when working with glass like materials. I think we should consider cutting some types of opal dry. Use compressed air with a Vortex Tube to cool the tool and stone. It's commonly used in the machine tools trades. Or use a liquid medium that doesn't chemically bond in the crack.
very interesting piece! The first ethiopian opal I've ever cut was a black one with beautiful colour but it did soak up the water and turned almost translucent when wet😂 amazing to see how different ethiopian opal can be
I've always liked Ethiopian opal. Great video and nice review of the opal varieties from there. I hear a lot of false information from people about Ethiopian opal and its nice to see more honest review.
Yeah I once took all the myths and rumors about Ethiopian seriously but once you start playing with it you find that it is actually a pretty interesting place for opal. About as varied as Aus opal though I'd still like some boulder opal. Guess they dont have the magic brown ironstone.
That was a lot of great info, I think I have all those varietys but black, but yet to cut any 🙈 Just looking through the jar and enjoing them as is every now and then 🙂 Pulitzer said he's gonna send you a Mintabie to carve, exited to see how that piece turns out 😊
Oh I am still 2 videos behind on Pulitzer videos. I had three days of full fever and was not doing much of anything. First my shoulder, then whatever that fever was and not just have a cough making recording really tricky. Cant wait for warm weather and better health.
@@RoysRocks sorry to hear you've been ill mate ❤️ Winters are killing me as well, only difference is that our summers lately is very simular to your winters. Not much to make us recover anymore. Wish you speedy recovery and that you get a nice summer 😊
I've only recently started to see this Ethiopian Stayish opal. Global Prospecting has cut a couple of pieces on their RUclips channel. They also have some rough in their eBay store.
Yep that's the Stayish Opal. I've been handling it at my gem and mineral shows here like I've shown ya. I'm not a huge fan as most the rough has alot of overburden and it's quite heavy like Aussie opal being non hydrophane. It is however the cheapest true black opal to be had. I get the stuff quite cheap from the show.
thanks for this video. I have a some Ethiopian mezzo Opal and I haven’t found a way to polish it without creating orange peel surface which is such a shame because the color is beautiful. It is very similar to one you showed at the beginning that is round and about the size of a chestnut. What results did you get when you tried to polish your piece? I’m curious.
I have not worked with much of that material but I will very soon on the channel. I am willing to sacrifice a few pieces and use all the different polishing techniques to see what works and what doesnt. I will also test a few drying methods.
@@RoysRocks Ok cool. I did try soaking it in mineral oil as someone online had suggested but that did nothing apart from make the opal a bit cloudy. I have tried everything I can think of but you are more experienced than I so ai wish you all the luck and look forward to watching what happens. As you know they crack easily so don’t soak them. Keep them dry when storing. Thanks for writing back:)
Nice Roy!! This is one I have not been able to get my hands on. Global Prospecting has cut a couple stayish opals that are untreated and came out awesome. He just polished it on his live last night. Awesome video!!👍😎👻🌶️
Oh cool. I need to get more its just hard to find the right seller because they try and imitate the stuff by treating standard hydrophane crystal opal and you get it and it is slimy with oil.
It is notoriously unstable straight out of the ground, however, the pieces I have cut have so far not cracked since cutting and polishing but they have only been sitting around for a few months.
Welcome to the channel, I've been looking for something untreated and this dark from Ethiopia for a long time. Not the best colour but I still call it a win.
It would be interesting if there was a Dr somewhere who worked at a lab that had a Cronograph (excuse me if im totally wrong), that could test and report the chemical make up of that opal.
Cronograph? Isn't that the movement of a watch? I have all the equipment needed for common opal research including an XRD and Raman microscope but they are busy machines. One day I might sneak some samples. I am the Lab manager after all and maybe I can use opals as dummy samples for performance tests.
I read some papers about Australian black opal in college using xrd and Raman and it’s was a mix of carbon and iron pyrite if I remember right. I can forward the papers if ya like.
I rather like that one. It's subtle. I think It would be good to see the rest of the process if you decide to cut it down into the smaller pieces as I think the odd texture may cause problems on the gem slicer. It would at least be interesting to see what happens.
I want to also take it to the lab to find out how much silica content it actually has. I went from thinking it cut like obsidian to mud. Was a strange experience.
There is a slight green tinge to the mud that comes off it but the polished stone itself in pure black with some areas of grey. I messed with the camera setting halfway through the video (from the crack onwards) to over brighten the image to help show it clearer.
Very interesting indeed. Now the statement that Australia is the only place in the world you can get black opal from is arguable or would you say the Ethiopian opal is so dark green it appears black and therefore not really a true black opal 🤔🤔🤔
It is a slight black/green but this isnt the best piece and I'm sure it would be classed as black opal. At this point I think also all opal yielding regions can produce just about any variety of opal. Its just such a wild stone.
I love to give a go. Any decent size Ethiopian opal of any colour. But the only seller's that sells what I'm looking for sell out of India. No thanks .
Pretty cool and interesting. I have cut only a little Ethopian opal. Tried drying out some Ethopian water opal once. Didn't go well, hahaha. I do have one really nice piece of Ethopian black opal. Different from yours, I believe, based on your description. My opal is definitely hydrophane. Gets a lot lighter when wet.
Yeah the drying process can be difficult I still have to try a few things for the water opal drying without treatment. I'll have to track down some hydrophane black ethiopian now... The colleting never ends!
You speak about the greenish tinge in the black. What I compare it to is liquorice or even black tattoos that have aged. They never stay true black. This stone reminds me hematite. Probably due to its opaqueness or lack of translucency, which is why those little pops of colour appearing are so compelling. Very different to the Lightning Ridge black opal. Which, although considered not desirable, I love the dark with deep colours. This Ethiopian example behaves quite differently in that you clearly see the reds just pop out, as with all the colours. As with all the examples you show, there's distinct similarities (to Aussie opal) but absolute differences that set them apart.
Thanks again for a great video, Roy.
No worries Annakeye, It is fun to explore these other opal varieties because they almost always surprise. I completely misjudged how this one was going to feel carving away but worked out. I just need to get lucky and get rid of the small pockets of air without revealing new ones...
Nice video, btw!
Thanks man. Was fun to try a new material.
Thought I'd capture the first playthrough on camera.
Great job, Roy! Thx!
No worries. Mythical opal confirmed finally.
I bought a few nodules of this stuff in Tucson a while back. It is certainly black, but the soft potch(?) inside was also black. Most of it crumbled for me although I could have gotten a small stone or two out of it. Because it was not very colorful, I gave up.
The Stayish mine that has this is actually in the Wello (Wollo;Welo) area and comes from the same seam that nearly all Ethiopian opal comes from. (It’s about a meter thick and extends for hundreds of miles).
This is pretty peculiar material. Maybe I should give it another chance… maybe. dp
For sure you should give it a shot. Mine was pretty study once I got through the crumbly outer parts. The annoying little pockets of air sucked though. Get rid of one for another to pop up!
I'm going to hunt down more of the stuff to see some more examples rather than just this one.
@@RoysRocks I did a video on this. ruclips.net/video/Xh5zPepBZuU/видео.html. I guess that I got some pretty decent stones out of it (I looked at the end of the video), but I just didn’t have a good time cutting it. It kept falling apart. Maybe I will send it to you, if I can find it. I will buy some more next February in Tucson. I mean, I remember distinctly not being pleased with it. Maybe I will change my mind?
Tech Ingredients asked how water helps glass fracture. I found the original paper that describes the mechanism and shared it with him. There are videos that describe the mechanism. Water as a coolant isn't necessarily your friend, when working with glass like materials.
I think we should consider cutting some types of opal dry. Use compressed air with a Vortex Tube to cool the tool and stone. It's commonly used in the machine tools trades. Or use a liquid medium that doesn't chemically bond in the crack.
very interesting piece! The first ethiopian opal I've ever cut was a black one with beautiful colour but it did soak up the water and turned almost translucent when wet😂
amazing to see how different ethiopian opal can be
Now I need to try and track down a hydrophane black Ethiopian opal... The hunt never ends.
@@RoysRocks absolutely, it's worth it!😊
Awesome
I got more... 😀
I've always liked Ethiopian opal. Great video and nice review of the opal varieties from there. I hear a lot of false information from people about Ethiopian opal and its nice to see more honest review.
Yeah I once took all the myths and rumors about Ethiopian seriously but once you start playing with it you find that it is actually a pretty interesting place for opal.
About as varied as Aus opal though I'd still like some boulder opal.
Guess they dont have the magic brown ironstone.
That was a lot of great info, I think I have all those varietys but black, but yet to cut any 🙈 Just looking through the jar and enjoing them as is every now and then 🙂
Pulitzer said he's gonna send you a Mintabie to carve, exited to see how that piece turns out 😊
Oh I am still 2 videos behind on Pulitzer videos.
I had three days of full fever and was not doing much of anything.
First my shoulder, then whatever that fever was and not just have a cough making recording really tricky.
Cant wait for warm weather and better health.
@@RoysRocks sorry to hear you've been ill mate ❤️ Winters are killing me as well, only difference is that our summers lately is very simular to your winters. Not much to make us recover anymore.
Wish you speedy recovery and that you get a nice summer 😊
I've only recently started to see this Ethiopian Stayish opal. Global Prospecting has cut a couple of pieces on their RUclips channel. They also have some rough in their eBay store.
Oh I will have to check out theirs as well.
Yep that's the Stayish Opal. I've been handling it at my gem and mineral shows here like I've shown ya. I'm not a huge fan as most the rough has alot of overburden and it's quite heavy like Aussie opal being non hydrophane. It is however the cheapest true black opal to be had. I get the stuff quite cheap from the show.
Its strange stuff. I will start playing with the chocolate stuff next.
Maybe also the matirx.
thanks for this video. I have a some Ethiopian mezzo Opal and I haven’t found a way to polish it without creating orange peel surface which is such a shame because the color is beautiful. It is very similar to one you showed at the beginning that is round and about the size of a chestnut. What results did you get when you tried to polish your piece? I’m curious.
I have not worked with much of that material but I will very soon on the channel.
I am willing to sacrifice a few pieces and use all the different polishing techniques to see what works and what doesnt.
I will also test a few drying methods.
@@RoysRocks Ok cool. I did try soaking it in mineral oil as someone online had suggested but that did nothing apart from make the opal a bit cloudy. I have tried everything I can think of but you are more experienced than I so ai wish you all the luck and look forward to watching what happens. As you know they crack easily so don’t soak them. Keep them dry when storing. Thanks for writing back:)
@@Shukarr Hopefully some interesting results from my testing. I'll try everything including soaking even if they explode.
Nice Roy!! This is one I have not been able to get my hands on. Global Prospecting has cut a couple stayish opals that are untreated and came out awesome. He just polished it on his live last night. Awesome video!!👍😎👻🌶️
Oh cool. I need to get more its just hard to find the right seller because they try and imitate the stuff by treating standard hydrophane crystal opal and you get it and it is slimy with oil.
I've seen a few pieces of rough for auction in their eBay store.
@@RoysRocks Global Prospecting is a legit seller. If they have it listed, it's the real thing.
@@soozieq697 they went a little too high for me🥺😊
Are you not concerned about it cracking when you slice it? It is very pretty.
Nah not too worried about it. Apart from the one crack I found under the crust the rest seems solid.
Does this kind of opal stay stable After cutting and dry?
It is notoriously unstable straight out of the ground, however, the pieces I have cut have so far not cracked since cutting and polishing but they have only been sitting around for a few months.
New subscriber, Looks great but to dark for my taste
I enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
Welcome to the channel, I've been looking for something untreated and this dark from Ethiopia for a long time. Not the best colour but I still call it a win.
It would be interesting if there was a Dr somewhere who worked at a lab that had a Cronograph (excuse me if im totally wrong), that could test and report the chemical make up of that opal.
Cronograph? Isn't that the movement of a watch?
I have all the equipment needed for common opal research including an XRD and Raman microscope but they are busy machines.
One day I might sneak some samples. I am the Lab manager after all and maybe I can use opals as dummy samples for performance tests.
@@RoysRocks I thought I was wrong. Hope to see the dummy sample analysis someday. Thanks.
I read some papers about Australian black opal in college using xrd and Raman and it’s was a mix of carbon and iron pyrite if I remember right. I can forward the papers if ya like.
I rather like it. Nice one, Roy. Beaut in Dim, this morning. Have a great day everyone. Greetings from Dimboola, in Victoria, Australia 🇦🇺.
Weather here is good as well so you have a good few days coming up.
Awesome!
It is a really cool stone.
So interesting!
Its really strange stuff. Never cut an opal like this before.
@@RoysRocks Pulitzer mentioned you in his latest video! So awesome!
do you have sell the Aluminium oxide mate
Yeah all on the website (roysrocks.com).
I actually need to divide bag up more this weekend.
thanks mate just ordered 2 bags @@RoysRocks
@@pkgoldopalhunting Saw that come through. Bagged and ready for mail before work.
thanks mate @@RoysRocks
I rather like that one. It's subtle. I think It would be good to see the rest of the process if you decide to cut it down into the smaller pieces as I think the odd texture may cause problems on the gem slicer. It would at least be interesting to see what happens.
I want to also take it to the lab to find out how much silica content it actually has.
I went from thinking it cut like obsidian to mud. Was a strange experience.
I had 2 Stayish blacks... GIA CERT..NO TREATMENT!!!
It is really cool material. I'll be getting more for sure.
@@RoysRocks 99%Smoked/ Dyed as you know. Without a certificate from World Class lab I will not even consider. 54 years a gem/ jewelry expert
Very cool, and interesting stone. A bit more of a green than a black on my screen though.
There is a slight green tinge to the mud that comes off it but the polished stone itself in pure black with some areas of grey.
I messed with the camera setting halfway through the video (from the crack onwards) to over brighten the image to help show it clearer.
Very interesting indeed. Now the statement that Australia is the only place in the world you can get black opal from is arguable or would you say the Ethiopian opal is so dark green it appears black and therefore not really a true black opal 🤔🤔🤔
It is a slight black/green but this isnt the best piece and I'm sure it would be classed as black opal.
At this point I think also all opal yielding regions can produce just about any variety of opal.
Its just such a wild stone.
I love to give a go. Any decent size Ethiopian opal of any colour. But the only seller's that sells what I'm looking for sell out of India. No thanks .
Pretty cool and interesting. I have cut only a little Ethopian opal. Tried drying out some Ethopian water opal once. Didn't go well, hahaha.
I do have one really nice piece of Ethopian black opal. Different from yours, I believe, based on your description. My opal is definitely hydrophane. Gets a lot lighter when wet.
Yeah the drying process can be difficult I still have to try a few things for the water opal drying without treatment.
I'll have to track down some hydrophane black ethiopian now... The colleting never ends!