Black Opal direct is a great company I bought one of the most affordable stones on their site and then asked them to square off a side after the fact and Justin took the time to do it no problem. No customer too small and it meant a lot. Gem of a guy and a company!
Thanks for sharing with us some of the most beautiful opals in the world! I love watching your channel, and look forward to the day I can afford to make a jewelry piece with one of your opals.
@blackopaldirect hey Justin, where would I be able to purchase the Gemfish? I can't get it off blackopaldirect, due to my "info being at risk". But anyways I work with Feldspars and other stones that have cleavage planes, and your torch is perfect for the task. I have a LOT of Sunstones and Moonstones of all types I need to cut, and this thing would help me get the best results possible.
correction @58:00, belemnite is an ancient squid but its not the tentacle of the squid its the backbone i believe (makes sense as is the only hard part of a squid) and why we dont see soft tissue or soft plant matter opalised
Great series of interviews. I've learned a lot of new and interesting information about opal, from how to read a piece of rough to how much value there is in every chip. I'll never look at it the same. Thanks Dave!
What a fantastic showcase of Australian opal, everyone had something interesting to add to the video. A slight error on the Belemnite description, the belemnite guard is bullet shaped, it was made of calcite and was located at the rear of the sea creature, it is not a tentacle. I am an avid fossil collector. I have followed Gene for years, it was great to see his personality show through in this interview. Very cool, thank you.
Thank you for the clarification on Belemnite. I was told so many different things about what part of the Belemnite it actually is or was. In this industry we are always learning something new
Justin of BOD is the master of all current opal cutters. He is amazing and if I were in the market to buy and opal I would buy only from Justin...period. Everything he sells is perfect. You can trust him! I'm happy that his Gem Fish light is becoming successful. I love that you take us around and show us the booths Dave. This is the best of the best booth!
I love when the fire is able to be seen from multiple directions. I can't afford any Aussie black opal but I have some white opal and some Honduran black matrix opal.
I am slowly making my way through this video, a few minutes at a time. Glad you talked to Justin, I am sad I didn't go to Tucson this year. Am thinking about hitting the solar eclipse in April but that is a lot of driving and a lot of money to spend, and I am uncertain I am up to that now.
Hey Dave love the channel! If you don’t mind me picking your brain a bit, have you ever seen anyone use backing like with turquoise for Opal? Wouldn’t that work instead of gluing on a doublet?
Black Opera has been a Main Staple' in our Abbacabs this year. We have a Heavy Transport system , (Nova Systems), that can ship Boing 'Aircraft , Water Tanks, Goodyear Blimps and you and your opals safely and illegally across Interrnational waters & their Maritime zones.
We only use Real Beef w/no fillers or additives. Most of our shit is real except what we lie about. Death & Taxes is solely your responsibility. If we are caught aiding and assisting transport of you & your illegal contraband we will surender and all matetials upon req.to proper authoriies immed. W/out hesitation. n.s.
I have found thin colour bars give the brightest colour but it is very hard to get the bar flat enough to give a big face. You have to be very lucky. It usually ends up you need to carve an uneven face then slice smaller stones to suit the colour levels or to leave it as a carving. Very time consuming.
So Dave I purchased that light Gem Fish and when I tried to state it was because of your video it doesn’t give you an option. It just says UA-cam only.
Hey brother, I appreciate the effort. I really means a lot to me and more than anything people buy from folks that they saw in the videos. That’s the absolute best way to support the channel. Thank you so much.
Cant wait till the day i can afford some rpugh opal to cut. But like the second guy said.. its a gamble. And i cant afford to throw money away. Also ive only been cutting for 2 yrs and mostly agate and pet wood. Been working sodalite, zoisite and lapis lately.
The high $$ material is actually not a gamble at all. It has the least amount of waste and will cut gems every time. But you still need to know how to pick out the right material
The first shop after Justing is Sally Patel of True Blue Opals at the Red Lion then we stopped briefly by Aurora Gems (I would not go to Aurora, they way overprice their gems and rough), then it was Sandra Bermon, then Elizabeth Lloyd then finally Gene McDevitt
Its a shame you dont have any nice koroit material to see, ironstone boulder, sandstone boulder, centrenuts, bubbleband, opalised wood, dino bones, conglomerate, crystal, we get it all.
Sorry for not including boulder opal. There is more Boulder opal for sale at these shows than literally any other opal. It’s everywhere and the prices ranged so greatly I would have a hard time finding an average price. Only a couple boulder miner dealers there that actually sold rough. All the rest had finished stones. I’ll have to work on a video with Dave talking about boulder. BTW bubble band is one of my favorites to cut
@@lapidarydave I was being really cheap, I even managed: Sedona, Meteor Crater and Grand Canyon. I didn't buy anything at the gem show but Justin DID give a great little parcel of some bluey crystal rough with some great greens! He is a legend.
Dear dave, Love your videos, but the losers selling an $800 bag and maybe theres something in it sounds like a scam to me... why would anybody ever do that. and unless you are showing how people can get scammed at Tuscon why would you show something like this?
Vendors can set any price they want for their material. The purpose of the video was to show people what the various quality types of rough look like and their approximate price. Lightning Ridge rough is the most expensive and yes even $800 does not get you much of it. The real trick is to get personally acquainted with the general rough prices so you can make your own educated guess before buying it.
I’m know Rod and do business with Rod. The vendors I showed in this video are ones in which I trust and have bought from. I work with a lot of vendors but these are key. Rods material is slightly overpriced if you are buying as a wholesaler (like me) but for that one or two piece buyers, his prices are good.
@@cooksopals thanks for the reply, i know what you are saying, however rod always has some fantastic stock to look at from koroit and as a channel that is creating content for viewing, having eugene mcdevitt talking for ½hr whilst not showing any nice stones at all sugests to me that if your buying stones from him then your only buying rubbish stone and i painfully listened to the entire conversation waiting to see something good but it did not happen, also i have 2 points to make, there are no western taipans in koroit, fact, also if you want to polish koroit material like the best in the world, after finishing on 3000grit novas, goto 50,000 diamond paste on felt, if you want a mirror finish on the dark material, then goto 100,000 diamond on felt however your reflection in the stone may take away from the colour. I appreciate your content when you show stones with pricing, thankyou.
@brownsnake9750 thank you for your input. Dave and Gene started to geek out on lapidary talk and by time they were done, we had to head over to see Justin before we ran out of time (Justin was actually the last interview for the day, it the first like shown in the video). I will make sure I add in boulder opal dealers next time. I was trying to just show the different qualities of LR & CP and stopped by Gene’s to introduce Dave. Rod had the same quality as Gene but the only difference being Rod had a LOT more material available than Gene. I’ll make sure off topic conversations are kept at a minimum going forward. Thank you watching the video in its entirety.
Black Opal direct is a great company I bought one of the most affordable stones on their site and then asked them to square off a side after the fact and Justin took the time to do it no problem. No customer too small and it meant a lot. Gem of a guy and a company!
You are so kind Joel. Thank you for the awesome words 🙏
I would love to be in area or country that has even decent opal ... The rainbow of color has 3:39 ty Justin blown my mind
I must agree.
Great video Dave showing some great opal from the land down Under. Thanks John for buying a gemfish and coming by again to say hi
Thanks for sharing with us some of the most beautiful opals in the world! I love watching your channel, and look forward to the day I can afford to make a jewelry piece with one of your opals.
@@sethchapman8001 aww that’s so kind. I will be here when you are ready
Love you brother
@@blackopaldirect see above comment sorry forgot to tag you
@blackopaldirect hey Justin, where would I be able to purchase the Gemfish? I can't get it off blackopaldirect, due to my "info being at risk". But anyways I work with Feldspars and other stones that have cleavage planes, and your torch is perfect for the task.
I have a LOT of Sunstones and Moonstones of all types I need to cut, and this thing would help me get the best results possible.
correction @58:00, belemnite is an ancient squid but its not the tentacle of the squid its the backbone i believe (makes sense as is the only hard part of a squid) and why we dont see soft tissue or soft plant matter opalised
Great series of interviews. I've learned a lot of new and interesting information about opal, from how to read a piece of rough to how much value there is in every chip. I'll never look at it the same. Thanks Dave!
Justin from Blackopaldirect is such a nice guy. And his opals are incredible.
What a fantastic showcase of Australian opal, everyone had something interesting to add to the video. A slight error on the Belemnite description, the belemnite guard is bullet shaped, it was made of calcite and was located at the rear of the sea creature, it is not a tentacle. I am an avid fossil collector. I have followed Gene for years, it was great to see his personality show through in this interview. Very cool, thank you.
Thank you for the clarification on Belemnite. I was told so many different things about what part of the Belemnite it actually is or was. In this industry we are always learning something new
Justin of BOD is the master of all current opal cutters. He is amazing and if I were in the market to buy and opal I would buy only from Justin...period. Everything he sells is perfect. You can trust him! I'm happy that his Gem Fish light is becoming successful. I love that you take us around and show us the booths Dave. This is the best of the best booth!
Everything you said is true but it’s so hard to pay him 2x what the same quality can be bought for elsewhere :(
You could be right @@Lmatdhr . You've more experience and knowledge about the market than I ever will. TY!
Top Drawer Dave! Keep up the Quality interviews. Bought my first Coober Peddy in '73 for $5usd a carat! Still have it!
ROCK ON!
Opal is my absolute favorite! So many beautiful colors. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Justin, good to see you are having fun in Tuscon and Quartzsite.😂 Don Wilson, Tacoma, Washington.
I love when the fire is able to be seen from multiple directions. I can't afford any Aussie black opal but I have some white opal and some Honduran black matrix opal.
I love watching Justin's videos. I wish I would have been able to get over to his booth.
Putting the opals in the frame to hold and view is a good idea. I would always call it the fish instead of torch for branding!
Great show, I wish I could have been there this year
I am slowly making my way through this video, a few minutes at a time. Glad you talked to Justin, I am sad I didn't go to Tucson this year. Am thinking about hitting the solar eclipse in April but that is a lot of driving and a lot of money to spend, and I am uncertain I am up to that now.
Hey Dave love the channel! If you don’t mind me picking your brain a bit, have you ever seen anyone use backing like with turquoise for Opal? Wouldn’t that work instead of gluing on a doublet?
You could do that if you wanted to
Great stuff, Dave!
Black Opera has been a Main Staple' in our Abbacabs this year. We have a Heavy Transport system , (Nova Systems), that can ship Boing 'Aircraft , Water Tanks, Goodyear Blimps and you and your opals safely and illegally across Interrnational waters & their Maritime zones.
We only use Real Beef w/no fillers or additives. Most of our shit is real except what we lie about. Death & Taxes is solely your responsibility. If we are caught aiding and assisting transport of you & your illegal contraband we will surender and all matetials upon req.to proper authoriies immed. W/out hesitation. n.s.
I have found thin colour bars give the brightest colour but it is very hard to get the bar flat enough to give a big face. You have to be very lucky. It usually ends up you need to carve an uneven face then slice smaller stones to suit the colour levels or to leave it as a carving. Very time consuming.
On the flight ✈️ back from Tucson 😢 I will watch your videos to console me 😂
It helps with mineral withdrawal!
Did your piano break???
Great video, subscribed.
So Dave I purchased that light Gem Fish and when I tried to state it was because of your video it doesn’t give you an option. It just says UA-cam only.
Hey brother, I appreciate the effort. I really means a lot to me and more than anything people buy from folks that they saw in the videos. That’s the absolute best way to support the channel. Thank you so much.
So beautiful ! ❤❤ ❤❤
my favorite episode
Great video I am a big fan of opal.
Amazing,im going to have to rewatch this again. Learned so much! THANK YOU
I love Black Opal Direct! Really incredible UA-cam videos. Thanks for this.
I have an opal crystal from Australia, 100% solid, weight 25.65 carats, large and beautiful. Plays with light very well, very rare.
ua-cam.com/video/sto8WP5PReU/v-deo.htmlsi=lhhPQuRJZgPv3SMv
ua-cam.com/video/8M6KJGmmnlc/v-deo.htmlsi=KMWy67nnFBj94dVq
Fabulous 👌
Justin! BOD is amazing. ❤
so inspiring
Cant wait till the day i can afford some rpugh opal to cut. But like the second guy said.. its a gamble. And i cant afford to throw money away. Also ive only been cutting for 2 yrs and mostly agate and pet wood. Been working sodalite, zoisite and lapis lately.
The high $$ material is actually not a gamble at all. It has the least amount of waste and will cut gems every time. But you still need to know how to pick out the right material
grinding treated matrix will REMOVE the treated part, as it seldom penetrates very deeply, and the dark part will disappear.
58:35 that's not a tentacle, it's an internal shell of the cephalopod's body like a cuttlebone
Love those Leporidaerian machines, you can't be careful enough with these animals..
What is the name of seller you went to after justin?
I'm not sure but it might have been sandra berman from sweet opal... Love her x
The first shop after Justing is Sally Patel of True Blue Opals at the Red Lion then we stopped briefly by Aurora Gems (I would not go to Aurora, they way overprice their gems and rough), then it was Sandra Bermon, then Elizabeth Lloyd then finally Gene McDevitt
My fav is Mexican precious opal, gone here.
Its a shame you dont have any nice koroit material to see, ironstone boulder, sandstone boulder, centrenuts, bubbleband, opalised wood, dino bones, conglomerate, crystal, we get it all.
Sorry for not including boulder opal. There is more Boulder opal for sale at these shows than literally any other opal. It’s everywhere and the prices ranged so greatly I would have a hard time finding an average price. Only a couple boulder miner dealers there that actually sold rough. All the rest had finished stones. I’ll have to work on a video with Dave talking about boulder. BTW bubble band is one of my favorites to cut
my last trip to tucson was over 1700 dollars. I think I will pay shipping for black potch. lol
$1700 is a great in and out good job
@@lapidarydave I was being really cheap, I even managed: Sedona, Meteor Crater and Grand Canyon. I didn't buy anything at the gem show but Justin DID give a great little parcel of some bluey crystal rough with some great greens! He is a legend.
Any discount code for the Gemfish IF1 light? 😉
I think you would have liked my opals😊
Hi Dave, I remember buying a lot the other day, but I am dumb and don't know what to do now. Any help?
Send me a text 772-284-4459
Thanks 👍
I saw Justin and had to like and add a comment :)
Awesome opals Dave. 😊
Gotta reboot for this one!!
Other opal types also please
Many stone swim like shark
I think the lady with the false nails needs to have them in filled.
Awesome video. Cool seeing Justin.
Sorry our schedules did not mesh on Thursday.
I can't wait!!!
hi Dave, how are you? looking forward to this video
need some rough to carve so badly
Dear dave, Love your videos, but the losers selling an $800 bag and maybe theres something in it sounds like a scam to me... why would anybody ever do that. and unless you are showing how people can get scammed at Tuscon why would you show something like this?
Vendors can set any price they want for their material. The purpose of the video was to show people what the various quality types of rough look like and their approximate price. Lightning Ridge rough is the most expensive and yes even $800 does not get you much of it.
The real trick is to get personally acquainted with the general rough prices so you can make your own educated guess before buying it.
Happy Friday 💎
Please can you find rod griffen and interview him and his stock?
I’m know Rod and do business with Rod. The vendors I showed in this video are ones in which I trust and have bought from. I work with a lot of vendors but these are key. Rods material is slightly overpriced if you are buying as a wholesaler (like me) but for that one or two piece buyers, his prices are good.
@@cooksopals thanks for the reply, i know what you are saying, however rod always has some fantastic stock to look at from koroit and as a channel that is creating content for viewing, having eugene mcdevitt talking for ½hr whilst not showing any nice stones at all sugests to me that if your buying stones from him then your only buying rubbish stone and i painfully listened to the entire conversation waiting to see something good but it did not happen, also i have 2 points to make, there are no western taipans in koroit, fact, also if you want to polish koroit material like the best in the world, after finishing on 3000grit novas, goto 50,000 diamond paste on felt, if you want a mirror finish on the dark material, then goto 100,000 diamond on felt however your reflection in the stone may take away from the colour. I appreciate your content when you show stones with pricing, thankyou.
@brownsnake9750 thank you for your input. Dave and Gene started to geek out on lapidary talk and by time they were done, we had to head over to see Justin before we ran out of time (Justin was actually the last interview for the day, it the first like shown in the video). I will make sure I add in boulder opal dealers next time. I was trying to just show the different qualities of LR & CP and stopped by Gene’s to introduce Dave. Rod had the same quality as Gene but the only difference being Rod had a LOT more material available than Gene. I’ll make sure off topic conversations are kept at a minimum going forward. Thank you watching the video in its entirety.
Dave, you want an investor? lol
Depends what you’re looking to invest in my friend
I see , I love
Is there any cooler dude than Justin?
Stop it ❤️🙏
🥰🥰🥰🥰 I agree.
He is the best with opals!
absolute ripper dad knows best
Your fathers clam should be set up in some kind of cool box.
Warna yang menarik❤ salam satu hobby
Please hit the like button all 😊
👋👋👋
i actually go to 15000
For god sakes throw away your 8000 and 15000 wheels, go straight to 50,000 diamond paste on felt after 3000 grit nova, you will never look back
sorry not sure why this said 15000 its 50000 yes thank you :)@@Koroitopal
@@Koroitopal I will 100% give that a shot
Sorry, Tucson. Bad arthritic fingers.
That makes sense, seeing how you like fish tacos so much. How's your business name? Cool. Learn something new😊