Lapidaryforum.net

Let's Rock => Opal => Topic started by: Neural on January 18, 2016, 09:15:47 AM

Title: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Neural on January 18, 2016, 09:15:47 AM
The opal section of this forum does not have one of these threads yet, so here it is :P

Post your supplier info for purchasing Opal rough!   I only have one currently, and I'm looking for more.  If you list someone, please be sure to include a little about your overall experience with the seller, and give them a grade too.  Don't be afraid to list sellers that you'd give an "F" grade to as well.  Don't trash them, but if you have had bad dealings, let others know simply by giving them a low grade and a very short explanation as to why (try to remain factual.  i.e. "product not as described" or "product a bit pricey for quality").

My first, and favorite, so far, is Village Smithy Opal.
http://villagesmithyopals.com/ (http://villagesmithyopals.com/)  I give this guy an "A" rating.  I'd have to say that the majority of the opal rough I've ordered over the years has been through VSO.  You might wonder why I'm looking for newer dealers when I have such a good source?  Well, the issue is that he's not dealing as much in Lightning Ridge now, and I'm leaning towards that these days.  VSO is a great US based source for Coober Pedy opal though.  I do not know about the quality or pricing fairness of his Welo offerings however.  The owner is very helpful when it comes to returns as well, so long as you've not rubbed or cut any of the pieces.  I've had to return stuff once or twice, and he's always been really quick and easy to deal with about it.

That's my addition to the list for now.  If anyone else has sources, please post them here.  Also, if anyone has had any dealings with Justin at Black Opal Direct, I'd like opinions there as well.  His stuff seems decently priced, and he's also fairly active, in what I've seen, at keeping new product moving in.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: sealdaddy on January 18, 2016, 10:43:05 PM
The VSO Montana supplier's opals look pretty good... and are very high priced, and high shipping on top of that.
But I'm tempted to try some of this Indian seller's much lower priced rough ($about $4.99...and with free international shipping too. Or for about $1 at auction, with $4.99 shipping

http://www.ebay.com/itm/03-80CTS-100-NATURAL-PLAY-COLOR-ETHIOPIAN-WELO-OPAL-ROUGH-CABOCHON-GEMSTONE-/361467442532?hash=item5429237564

I will be getting delivery on some in a couple weeks.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: hummingbirdstones on January 19, 2016, 06:34:00 AM
Good luck.  Welo is a little different in that it's a hydrophane opal, so it will suck up water while you're cutting it.  It will also lose it's color while it's wet, so be aware that will happen. It will dry out and the color will come back usually, but there is a slight chance that it will turn milky instead of clear and never look quite like it did before it got wet.  Happened to me on the first (and last) Welo I cut.  It can be a very beautiful stone, though.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Neural on January 19, 2016, 09:41:08 AM
I have two small bits of Welo that I got for $20 a while back.  Going to dry cut them eventually, but I don't plan to ever cut Welo for anything more than an experiment.  It looks fantastic when cut, but the water issues are just not worth it in my opinion.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: vitzitziltecpatl on January 19, 2016, 04:29:04 PM
I actually cut three stones from one 2-gram piece of rough. Sawed through a mud pocket and an inclusion to get the three pieces. Cut them wet since orientation wasn't an issue, and all three came back to be nice little stones. Maybe not quite as translucent as before cutting. Robin's chunk did come back milky - nothing like it was to begin with.

Was a bit strange grinding on them as the color disappeared.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Phishisgroovin on January 19, 2016, 08:36:18 PM
i absolutely love working opals, but, they are really expensive and i cant afford the nicer large pieces so i am boycotting opals.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: vitzitziltecpatl on January 20, 2016, 06:01:04 AM
Yeah, prices are high for sure. One carver in Australia commented his rough costs about five times what it did just a few years ago.

The post above with a link to an eBay auction took me to a 3.8 carat piece of rough for $6.99. That makes that single piece of rough $275 per ounce.

Really (I mean really) nice Lightning Ridge rough we saw in Quartzsite a couple of years ago was $10,000/oz.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: sealdaddy on January 20, 2016, 12:07:00 PM
I found this:

Shaping and polishing Ethiopian Welo opals is largely up to personal preference. First off, I am hearing a lot of people talking about cutting there Welo opals dry. I find if you study your rough before and during the cutting process you can often see more to it than there initially was with water. For example, as the opal is getting wet the outside will turn crystal and the center will be an “orb” of opaque opal with color plays all around the opaque part. As that orb shrinks you can see what color play is going on precisely that deep in the opal by seeing the outer most skin of the orb, its like a window foreshadowing what your getting into… I’ve certainly found a few harlequins with this technique, and you can also see exactly how deep to cut when the pattern is at its prime.  When I do end up cutting my opals dry it is just for pre-shaping, once I see exactly what I want and have have it shaped its time to fine tune and polish with the aid of water.

To avoid losing too much material and keep a nice shape to my piece I like to take my time with shaping and do as much as I can with higher grit diamond wheels than I would normally use with other material. I usually go through a progression on a flat lap pre-shaping with a very worn down 1200 diamond wheel, then go through a series of wet/dry sandpaper on the flat lap. I make sure each piece of wet/dry sand paper is well broken in before working the opal, or break it in on a spot I missed that the previous grit should have taken care of. The progression I go through is 320, 600, 1,200, 2,000, then use on muslin wheels 3000 grit diamond paste up to 14,000, and finish with the 50,000 for that beautiful “wet” finished look.

I have also seen great success going from 1200/3000 on a diamond wheel to cerium oxide or French oxide for final polish. The problem I have seen is working the hydrophane opal too much with Cerium Oxide will make an “orange peel” effect, where the surface is polished but has a grainy texture. In my experience it seems like the more hydrophane a piece is the more of a problem cerium oxide can be. I would recommend trying as many techniques as you have the opportunity to work with, as they will help you develop and create a style you feel most comfortable working with, and ultimately make the best cuts and polish possible.

Take your time with it and don’t put too much pressure on the opals. Getting a good polish is one of the hardest parts of getting a great finished gem. Work grits 600 and up very well, make sure the gem is completely rounded and every mark of the previous grit is worn out. Welo opals are soft, but they can take a bit longer to polish up than you think, but practice and patience should give you a good feel soon enough. Have fun with these and get to know the material. The more you work with opals the greater your eye for the material will get. Soon enough you’ll be creating aesthetically elegant shapes with plays of color oriented to make some unbelievable gems!
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: LadyDarkKitten on July 16, 2016, 01:24:47 PM
The VSO Montana supplier's opals look pretty good... and are very high priced, and high shipping on top of that.
But I'm tempted to try some of this Indian seller's much lower priced rough ($about $4.99...and with free international shipping too. Or for about $1 at auction, with $4.99 shipping

http://www.ebay.com/itm/03-80CTS-100-NATURAL-PLAY-COLOR-ETHIOPIAN-WELO-OPAL-ROUGH-CABOCHON-GEMSTONE-/361467442532?hash=item5429237564

I will be getting delivery on some in a couple weeks.

So did you ever get that opal?
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: sealdaddy on July 16, 2016, 03:01:59 PM
yes...but now I'm having to leave, and quit the thing I love doing
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: mirkaba on July 17, 2016, 12:14:14 PM
Opal prices have sky rocketed. Village Smithy Opal is a top notch dealer. I am scrimping and scraping and saving up to get an order before they get totally out of reach. Last winter I picked through my much picked over stash and pulled about 50 small cabs out. Sorted out a pound or so of potch. Going to put on Ebay one of these days.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: irockhound on July 17, 2016, 01:34:52 PM
I went to Seal Daddy's link and looked at what the vendor sells.  There is a lot of junk with wild color dyed Agates listed as "Natural" like one that is red, green, purple and blue in the same stone.  I am not sure how the Opal was he got.  I have bought from VSO for a few years and Steve is great and I have gotten some amazing pieces.  I got one that I will put pics in this post that came in the $99.-Oz mine run packages.  I did the 3 package and it dropped to 89-Oz.  The one stone when cut will way more than pay for all 3 ounces bought.

I got a lot of great cutting pieces and every package was worth much more than I paid.  This is just my personal experience with VSO.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Neural on July 18, 2016, 08:54:56 AM
wow!  That one will cut a nice stone. Do please post the finished cab! :D
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Opal Mike on July 27, 2016, 01:05:40 AM
Hi, I thought I might update your information in regards to South Australian opal. Firstly let me introduce myself, my name is Mike and I am a professional opal cutter who has lived in Coober Pedy from 1986 to 2005.

I am one of the very few large scale commercial cutters still working in commercial quantities of opal.

I can tell you that the commentary surrounding Australian opal prices going up rapidly is correct. In terms of Coober Pedy, traditionally the worlds largest opal field, production is at an all time low. I was there last week and had dinner with the head of the mines department up there who confirmed to me that the number of full time mining companies is now below 30.

Prices for rough have sky-rocketed, particularly in the lower grades, and milky material which we call 'grey' material. To give an example, opal that I used to pay 150 oz for 3 to 4 years ago to cut C- C+ opal triplets is now going at up to $600 oz. Potch and colour, and even potch is fetching big money also, I mean crazy money!

This is not all bad news. Opal prices for many many years went nowhere. When I started buying parcels of rough in 1986, right up to about 4 years ago, prices went up and down, but never up very far. Meanwhile mining costs soared, legislation made mining more difficult and expensive also. Opal mining started to steadily decline, not for lack of opal, or lack of claims, but simply because the price of rough was too low.

I have never been frightened of buying opal. Indeed I just paid 14K for a little under 3 oz of material. Yes it is very good quality crystal, and yes it was expensive, but not really. Not when you compare the amount of high quality jewelry pieces we will end up making out if it.

The flip side of higher prices, particularly for the lower grade material is that digging the stuff out of the ground may once again become an attractive proposition. To give you an example of how hard it is to find, consider this. A good friend of mine is a large scale miner, who uses excavators, Calwell drill, and other big machinery. They work hard and long hours and have not found any opal at all for almost 2 years. meanwhile their mining expenses run at about 10K a month.

90 % of all the opal dug out is either 'grey' (milky) material, or worse, with lots and lots of potch and 'potch and colour' in between. For these larger scale miners, the low grade material of which they find heaps is not really worth stopping to dig out....until now!

The rapid rise in prices is due to Indian buyers entering the market and creating markets for very low grade opal (potch or white coloured stones). This is good news actually. I anticipate that mining activity will slowly start to pick up again, and from just yesterday, another retired mining friend of mine is heading back to Coober Pedy for one week every month to do some prospect drilling.

Recent changes to the mining act now allows miners to peg claims and work them when they want. Prior to the changes it was a requirement to work opal claims for a minimum of 20 hours per week, making it hard for part time miners, or people from far way to come in their breaks and have a crack.

My advice to all of you looking to buy opal. Keep buying Australian opal, but make sure you buy from a reliable source who knows exactly where the opal is from. Every field produces good, and bad opal, and speaking of Coober Pedy, opal can vary dramatically from claim to claim and even from level to level within the one claim. But, Australian opal when you buy right, is healthy, and very good quality.

This last point is pretty important if you are planning on putting your stone into jewelry. Gold is very expensive, so whatever you put in it needs to be stable!

I may be biased, but nothing can be more rewarding than cutting an opal (Australian), and after cutting hundreds of thousands of them, I still get surprised, and excited when I take them off the sticks!

I am not going to make comment about non-Australian opal, I can't afford to touch it as I guarantee all of my stones!

Anyway, I hope this is useful..

Cheers,
Mike
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: vitzitziltecpatl on July 27, 2016, 07:12:44 AM
Thanks so much for the information. It's great for people hesitant to buy because they think the prices they see are too high, and for cutters who have prospective buyers saying the same thing. We (as cutters) hear that quite often.

Last show we did there was a guy (said he was a former cutter) who was fairly unpleasant in telling me our prices were "crazy". Told me what he used to pay - and how much less his sold for - when he cut years ago. I told him why prices are higher now, but he obviously didn't believe it.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: hummingbirdstones on July 27, 2016, 07:42:12 AM
Thanks for the info, Mike.  It's good to hear straight from the "horse's mouth" so to speak.   :icon_sunny:
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Neural on July 27, 2016, 02:22:49 PM
Thank you for that info, Mike.  I suspect that, hopefully, the market for finished products will also respond to the changes eventually.  With prices of rough going up, maybe he prices on finished will go up as well.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Bluetangclan on May 10, 2017, 12:41:21 PM
Since this is still on page 1 I think its ok to reply to this old thread since info is still pertinent.

Has anyone ordered off of www.opalauctions.com? I have been surfing around in the rough sections and saw some possibly interesting parcels. Usually from the pics on the low cost parcels I see one or two stones that look promising in most of them. I haven't compared them to village smithy opals  for general prices but the parcels don't seem too crazy in price.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Steve Ramsdell on May 10, 2017, 06:51:23 PM
Opals have always been a problem, as in I want more.  When the prices go up as they are now I go the opposite direction.  I look at the synthetic or man made opals that are often very reasonable.  When I used to teach I would recommend this material when people were learning how to cut a soft material.  I saw a lot of opal going down the drain when people first start cutting a softer stone.  My favorite opal, the brazilian opal is hardly available.
Steve
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: finegemdesigns on May 10, 2017, 09:05:18 PM
i absolutely love working opals, but, they are really expensive and i cant afford the nicer large pieces so i am boycotting opals.

lol
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Bluetangclan on May 26, 2017, 07:51:41 AM
I am trying different vendors on opal auction, now waiting for arrival. Ordered some parcels of cober pedy and lightning ridge from VSO. Both arrived fairly quickly and had some good stuff in them. I guess as parcels it was a mixed bag, I am still looking at them and trying to figure out how to work several of the pieces. Got a nice bright chuck of coober, probably at least a 4, came out great except a yellow line halfway across the stone in the matrix  :angry: . Got some more girdled and relatively cleaned on the bench for when I finish the current batch up. I work in batches by the way, its simpler that way for smaller rocks to me. I'll post a pic on its own thread when I get around to it.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: hummingbirdstones on May 26, 2017, 02:11:09 PM
Looking foward to seeing your pictures!
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: irockhound on May 26, 2017, 10:16:29 PM
Steve is a neat guy and very friendly, I like buying from him.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: ileney on June 03, 2017, 01:34:20 PM
Bluetangcaln, please post pictures of the lightning ridge and other rough. I am curious.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Bluetangclan on June 05, 2017, 10:08:06 AM
Unfortunately I have gone through and precut or girdled most of the CP stuff. One very large chunk I am going to cut in half even, from memory I think it had two thick layers of fire in it. I think most of the LR is still in rough form though. I tend to be spastic when working on rough grabbing a piece from this bag, a piece from that.

I have gotten mixed bag from SEDA on opal auctions. A couple things were decent to good, especially the boulder and a particular CP rough chunk. The LR stuff I got was not very good, mostly very small and clear, although there were a couple take-aways I can use. Most of the small stuff is too small to even waste the time turning them into doublets or triplets although I might do just that for practice since I have only made a few so far. Ill have to see if they have better color against a black background.

Really bad about taking pics. I have some stuff I really want to take pics off but still trying to get my camera to do it without them just being white chucks. In the thread on the subject someone mentioned doing it in water so I will give that a try.

Definitely get what you pay for. I bought a cheapish 200ct opal parcel from TG Opals on ebay. That was a bust. I think he scraped the bottom of his storage bucket and sent them as there was a lot of tiny bits for the most part. Might be one or two very small rocks I can even use. But if just one of them works out and I can sell it for $25 I will have made my money back so I guess I cant complain too much heheh.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: ASO on September 12, 2017, 11:42:12 AM
Ebay is a so so place to find rough but I have done well with some larger stones in the past at a premium of course, parcels not so much.  VSO is good but seams to be focusing on Ethiopian opal more now fine if you are into that sort of thing.  It wasn't bad a few years ago when you could get a kilo of AAA for $500.  Opal Auctions is secure and sometimes you can find something unexpected but it will take hours of scrolling through pages and sometimes the prices are high but some $ can still be made on the back end. Justin at Black Opel Direct is a good gut very professional you pay cherry picking prices but sometimes he has stones that are worth it.  I have bought many stones from him in the past and have always done well, probably one of the better sources for individual larger stones.  I have heaps of rough all with guaranteed profit cutters but wont be posting it on this site for a while but feel free to contact me and come visit us at a gem show.  We will always bring allot with us. 
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: John Robinson on September 13, 2017, 04:04:44 PM
This was a very informative thread!
But I wonder, does anyone have a good source for American opal, both North and South America ? I have a few pieces from the Americas that I think are outstanding opals
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: ASO on September 13, 2017, 09:59:11 PM
I am partial to the Australian opal and only feel comfortable saying what I am about to because I don't think my miners are reading this but I would give a limb for some top quality Brazilian crystal rough.  That stuff is amazing and very stable.  Absolutely love it, I think that the monster company Opex Opal has struck a deal with the Brazilian government to reopen one of the top producing mines.  The only problems with this is now the small time local miners wont be digging out and selling the small amounts that they once were, and Opex will have total control over that killer material.  They will send it to Asia to be cut and I think most of it usually ends up in Japan they love it.  Probably nothing left for cutters like us.  Mintabee is another solid quality opal to look out for the top stuff is like the Brazilian in color and quality but it cuts a little differently.  The regulations and high cost to mine are whats causing that to dry up.
Let me know if you find any good sources

good luck   
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: John Robinson on September 14, 2017, 05:12:36 PM
Off topic,  but I have a nice 64 Ct Australian rough white that was mined over thirty years ago should I just stash it away, instead of  cutting it? If Australian opal is becoming scarce, then existing stones might increase in value (?)
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: ASO on September 14, 2017, 05:34:23 PM
The way that I see it a cut opal is always worth more than a rough stone provided that the stone didn't just look like it had a good chance of cutting and ween you get in to it you find out a different story.  You can cut it whenever and sell it whenever the the price of rough and cut opal will always go up.  A lot of the opal that ends up on the market now days is coming from material that was mined 20-30 years ago and just now hitting the market.  Much of the good stuff came out when new fields were first discovered.  I was talking to another opal dealer at Tucson and he said that he had barrels of untouched nobbies that he bought out in the Coccrin when the rush first began back in the 80s.  He put tens of millions in to the pockets of miners back then and only pulls out what he needs on a yearly bases.  If it was me I would probably cut that stone now sell it and then buy even more rough now while is is still somewhat affordable.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Bluetangclan on September 19, 2017, 06:09:00 AM
For Honduran opal, one of my favorites even if it is stupidly time consuming to work, I go through SBmalls on ebay. He has a good selection of material as well as South American jade, his prices are ok, and his pictures are accurate. I have gone through the guy on opalauctions selling Honduran and I wont waste my time with him anymore.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: SmokerX on February 19, 2020, 10:08:01 AM
the monster company Opex Opal

I ran into Dagbjorn Johnson at the Tucson show. I'm a nobody and didnt realize Opex was considered a monster company. I noticed an opal seller and wanted to take a look at the opals and see if he was offering any rough for cutters and check out the quality and price of rough and cabs. Dagbjorn was working his booth and I chatted with him for a bit. He was a really nice guy and I got the impression he was just an old miner from Australia who's been in the opal business for awhile. He had some nice material in cabs but I didn't inquire on the prices. The very small supply of rough he had was a pass for quality for me so I also didnt get prices. Looked like the show he was in was more dedicated to cut stuff for bench jewelers and finished pieces for wholesale to retail. I didn't see much rough in Tucson gem and mineral show but was a bit of a side project with a main mission of giving someone who needed a ride so basically just along for the ride and following them around with what they where looking to accomplish rather then focusing on studying the rough and cab opal market there.

I did pick up a small parcel of Welo from a guy running a small booth of almost all rough stuff at one of the hotels. Not sure what show or what hotel since they all look the same brown stucco with a pool. Real good cheap stuff compared to the one welo I've purchased off of Ebay from an Indian seller. The ebay stuff looked good in a pic but looked like potch when it arrived beyond a brief glimpse of flash when you held at just the right angle and stood on one leg. Versus what I got in from Tucson having relatively stable play of color/better color but difficult to cut due to small pieces, odd shapes and harder to remove areas of rhyolite intrusion. The low priced stuff probably deemed uncuttable or not worth cutting with either very small or no calibrated opals discernible. Which is the right priced stuff for me for practice and experience attempting to cut. Almost too good of quality or a perfect challenge to increase skill.

For the price of attending tucson and the dry air increasing risk of crazing. I'm not thinking it's a viable option of sourcing rough for at least welo but seems a good place for networking your connections for purchases. It would have made sense to at least put a wet napkin as a type of humidifier in with what I got there as the biggest finest piece crazed at some point from purchase to pulling it out to work. Still got a few pieces for cutting off the crazed piece but did lose a good bit as shard too small to do anything with after fracturing it along the crazed lines, and definitely Tucson's harsh conditions test the opal to verify it's stability. 

From my limited experience with Ebay I'm left a bit salty from my one experience and cant say I'm enthusiastic to go back in for more there. But understand how mileage may vary from seller to seller and especially price point. Looks to be a bit dominated for rough welo there with my poor experience tho. I'd prefer a video vs. still picture to judge quality there and a bit harder to judge things like crazing or depth of intrusion of stuff like rhyolite without personal examination vs. pictures or video over the internet. That's gotta be a bit tougher to pull the trigger on the higher the price runs.

Dagbjorn did mention opening up mining in Brazil, I believe but I just assumed Australia is a bit played out as far as the common places associated with fine opal in Australia and Brazil seems to be a nicer environment as far as hostile environments to explore mining in my mind beyond crime rate. Citation with all of this needed that I am a nobody and have no idea what Im talking about.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Stonemon on February 19, 2020, 12:58:18 PM
Great post! Welcome to the forum from western Oregon.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: vitzitziltecpatl on February 19, 2020, 07:00:40 PM
Yes, welcome to the forum.

It would sure be nice to see Brazilian back on the market. Hopefully enough for it to filter down to us "hobby cutters".
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Phishisgroovin on February 20, 2020, 06:06:05 PM
if you are on facebook, C Vierick lapidary has live feeds Tuesdays and saturdays. i get alot of Australian opals from him. and his $4 shipping is fast and cheap!
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: Phishisgroovin on February 20, 2020, 06:17:10 PM
Heres a link to his fb page.
https://www.facebook.com/CViereckLapidary/
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: ileney on February 21, 2020, 04:06:55 PM
I wish I could say where I get my rough from. I definitely like to watch Village Smithy Opals, and they look very high quality, but you pay for it. I've bought a bit from shows, from people who have given me lapidary classes, and online. The rough I've bought online has come from different countries, mostly from Ethiopia but also from Australia, the US and Honduras and varied dramatically in value, with no rhyme or reason I can decipher between the amount paid and what I received. I also have some Australian rough I got from my dad, that he obtained 40+ years ago from a friend, who obtained it even before that.
Title: Re: Where to get your fix (rough suppliers)
Post by: VegasJames on February 22, 2020, 05:12:09 PM
About 99% of my material I mine or collect myself. The rest I generally get on trades trading on Facebook pages.  Boards like this are also good places to look for material or ask. Couple benefits is that most the people here are recreational and therefore do not have the high overhead and can offer material cheaper. And you can find less common material as most commercial sellers basically sell the same materials.