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[Opal Mike]

I put my opal aside this afternoon and and made some American Pie...firstly Morrisonite and then three Willow Creek.

I have to say I think the Willow Creek just shades the Morrisonite in terms of hardness, and boy did they take some sanding. To save my Nova’s I have taken to my drum sander and then finish them quickly on the 1200 nova, then to my polish which is called Opol, a white form of very pure cerium that comes from Germany.

I am finding that I can get a fantastic polish on this material straight from the 1200 Nova. I have tried going to 3000, and even all the way to 14000, then the oxide polish on my 8” leather buff, but I find going straight from the 1200 seems to work best, which is a little curious.

I would love to know how you guys work these harder jaspers, and where you source your belts etc.

Gotta say, I am loving your jaspers!

I apologise in advance for the stretched images.

Cheers,
Mike

[Opal Mike]

I give up trying to upload images...I don’t know how to adjust them....frustrating. The actual stones look nothing like the images..sorry

[vitzitziltecpatl]

It isn't just you with image size issues, Mike.

I think there was a discussion on another forum about this issue. Primarily with phone photos, I think.

Too much "intuitive" crap built into everything these days - all geared toward the masses who only care about what they can upload to some blather platform, and do so without having to think about it.

Newer Apple products use an updated photo file format, and who knows what else. I've avoided Apple, as I didn't learn their systems first and then later had to integrate a couple of them into an "IBM" network. Wish I could help.

[lithicbeads]

I switched over to 60 grit nova wheels a few years ago and love them. It makes working with hard stones more enjoyable for me. A well worn 1200 nova wheel does wonderful work on hardstones and the 3000 is gold on most jades.The 3000 used half dry will polish almost all jades but going to the 8000 or up makes them worse as well.

[irockhound]

I saved you pic to my desktop and opened it it photoshop and it went to normal size and corrected without me touching a thing.  Adds to the mystery that the file dimensions are correct since all i did was open - resave and post.  All 4 are winners, I especially like #1 and #3

[Felicia]

Good work. Those subtle colors are beautiful and calming.

[Opal Mike]

Thank you for that. I will try and do it all from my new iMac my son insisted we have.

Thanks also for the comments around the nova wheels and hard stones..I wouldn’t have thought of going for a 60 grit nova. Most of my set up is built for opal production. My grinding wheels are heavy sintered pretty fine wheels and are slow on the hard stones, but don’t put any deep scratches in anything.

Question for you guys: After the 60 grit Nova (hard stones like Willow Creek Jasper), how course is the finish and where to from there? My 280 nova seems to struggle unless I have preshaped and worked the cab real close on my 270 -320 sintered grinding wheel.

I went to the drum sander to save the nova’s, but the belts cost me $5 each here and that adds up too. On these bigger hard cabs I only do a few stones at a time on each new belt..that’s 240, 600 and 1200.... I haven’t worked it out but I have a fair pile of worn belts with not too many finished pieces...maybe the 60 nova might save a fair bit of time on the 240 drum sander belt....they are the ones I go through the most.

Time is also the biggest factor. I am used to cutting large numbers of stones, and whilst I am loving getting away from the opal and playing with these harder stones, the production cutting beast in me is screaming to get my setup right and cut a lot more pieces in a day.

I must say that I love polishing these stones. They take a super polish and it is very rewarding after the effort!

Cheers again and thank you again,
Mike

[vitzitziltecpatl]

Your Willow Creek looks great.

We use the standard 80-220 Galaxies, then 280-600-1200 Novas.

[Opal Mike]

Thanks Vince,

The Nova’s are pretty pricey for me to get. I buy them off eBay from Ron’s Rocks in the US. I buy 4 at a time and I go through them pretty fast, especially with the Mookaite and other hard jaspers, chrysoprase and the like.

I get slugged a heap of postage, duty and GST..and with the low Aussie dollar against the greenback I am looking to get me operating costs down...

I have had to compete commercially for years against Chinese opal companies and now Indian companies, somI am always trying to save time and money....without ever compromising on the quality and finish of my stones..

The harder stones are still evolving for me...I am grateful for all and any advice always!

Cheers,
Mike

[Shifter55]

I wonder if the grits past 3000 are causing glazing issues? It's more noticeable with faceting garnet and glass, since you can pre-polish a facet too much, resulting in scratching and non-uniform polish with oxides.
It's a little unpredictable but I've noticed some of my rough with variable textures not liking finer grits on my neoprene disks...