Australian Opal Cutter

Australian Opal cutters
opal cutters and lapidists alike are a breed of their own. Opal is a very small niche worldwide and for people to learn to cut opal without being close to the source is very hard to do. Most of the best opal cutters are living at the source or have learnt from someone who has lived at the source. Lightning Ridge is a place where opal cutters are common and some of the best are found here. Lightning Ridge black opal is the most difficult type of opal to cut. Nobby opal is especially the most difficult. Learning to cut with nobby opal is not really a great type of opal to start with. Seam opal on the other hand is a little bit easier to learn on, with opal bars being usually straighter and easier to follow on an opal cutting wheel.

Australian opal cutters are among the best in the world. Idar-Oberstein is a gemstone mecca in Germany that has bred many top gemstone cutters and among them are some great opal cutters. The real knowledge comes from knowing what opal field in Lightning Ridge will cut what type of opal and how the best way to cut that certain opal field is the most valuable type of information and experience needed to cut the best out of Lightning Ridge. While some opal can face one way in one opal mining field, Another opal mining field might cut totally the opposite way to what you might think it would cut. Some opal will have bright color showing up from the side of the color-bar and not show much color once it has been faced. And some opal can have dull color from the color-bar on the side but be very bright from the top when faced. Only lapidists who are close to the source and see the miners coming from their different opal fields with their opal will truly get an idea of how opal cut from where. It sounds pretty difficult to understand but it's so important to know these things.

Their are many opal cutting clubs or gem clubs in Australia where you can go to share your knowledge of opal. This is mainly for the amateurs. Professional opal cutters are contract cutting for miners and opal exporters. Some larger opal companies have their own in house opal cutters to do the cutting and re-cutting.

My experience has mainly come from going to Lightning Ridge and buying opal from opal miners over a span of 20 years. Cutting the opal and storing the information away in my head for the next parcel from the same place. So cutting each piece is a learning curve. After 25 years of opal cutting, buying, mining and selling. I can still say that I am still learning about opal.

Valuing an opal is a totally another ball game.

For more information on opal cutting or purchasing opal. Please email blackopalsdirect@live.com or you can call me on Skype My username is Blackopaldirect and it's free!

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