Hiding In The Matrix.

[@Kerrsartisticgifts]

I've been saying "wow!" a lot since I've been watching your videos, but I really mean it when I say it. wow!

[@JohnP538]

I'm amazed what you can do with a rock some other guy tossed to the side. Beautiful work as always.

[@phoenicianstones4783]

If I was the guess , you look like a football player.” We call it soccer here the US. Just a guess” lol. Really good education again Phil. That concrete almost looks like some Fire Agate I cut . Thanks Phil

[@theopalmills]

🤣👍⚽️🏃

[@bentationfunkiloglio]

Wow. The cabochon came out looking great. Other stones look great also. Thank you for posting video. Very interesting.

[@grantivers9091]

Love to see matrix treatments. They sure are some nice stones now Phill great work.....THE OPAL MILLS ROCKS

[@wishtherewasnotomorrow1766]

Thanks for the video, it has validated my thoughts on hidden gems.

[@1catfishuntermiller753]

Hiya Phil, I don't care what anyone says about matrix opals, they are still opals. There's a point in limestone that is opals, if you could treat it just like you are doing, I wonder if it would look like what you are doing? I don't really know, but one day I will try it out. I have white opals I want to try it on too. Awesome video mate! Keep what you are doing, one day the world will see the true meaning of opals. I love all opals know matter what they are made up of, and I know you do too. I hope you have a awesome blessed day mate. Cheers! Cya! 😺🐟 out!

[@kevinmaxfield5488]

I learned a lot and I love the videos thx.

[@coryboatz4434]

Can't wait for the cutting video on this material, treatments look great! Great work

[@fishwithandy]

Hi Phil ,Great Video it Amazes me how from almost nothing the colour appears so strong , like Magic , love the low light at the end , Mesmerising .

[@TyOtis]

Wow some btful matrix! 🌈

[@davidpringle6928]

great work again m8 love it those last 2 stone wow wow

[@matthewhayler601]

Thanks again Phil

[@alan1340]

What a lovely play of colour around the 43:20 > mark, I am sure that stone will cut up nicely and be even more stunning. Looking forward to see it all when finally cut and polished.

[@tonyrandall7161]

Looks really good in fish tanks 😎

[@taleandclawrock2606]

What stunning stones, thanks for sharing this, i didnt know about this type of opal. Does it flouresce under uv light ?

[@theopalmills]

Yes, it does fluoresce under a strong enough black light. 🤪👍

[@jerrybond1855]

Beautiful cuts! TUCKER

[@nagualitoo]

Amazing!!

[@tianafrancis9827]

Great video and great work. Thanks for all your hard work.

[@theopalmills]

🤪👍

[@jeffholmes1362]

Hi Phil, thanks for sharing, nice video. With the vacuum fogging up, under vacuum water boils at 90 degrees, so if your solution was warm, it would super heat and create steam, so it may need to be cooler than you think? Something I will try, have you used a more dilute sulphuric and put it under vacuum? Just wondering if it would penetrate more and reduce the need for multiple treats? Great result for a rock most people would walk straight past 😃

[@theopalmills]

Thanks Jeff, I don’t think I’d let the sugar solution cool enough, next time. 🤣👍

[@pkgoldopalhunting]

great stuff mate ile be trying treatment soon as i get some matrex very nice colours

[@gregorybowman4638]

Come in and see us at the lapidary club when it cools off it's going to be around 40c for the next week or two so to hot to open up at the moment but when it cools down, if you use heat the stones can be put into fish tanks under lights looks great.🤓

[@TheMineFieldIsOneOfAMine]

Spot On As Always Mate! I'd luv ta purchase some o dat materials... Gonna do a process... Sugary Process! Another One In Da Can Me Friend! Noice Job Me Friend! 5 Diamonds 💎 💎💎💎💎👏😉

[@SirRocksAlot]

Some of it looked like it was facing well when you had it upside down. Perhaps come from the otherside for the other bar and have adouble sided.

[@theopalmills]

Yes, the bars face differently from one part of the rock to the next, it takes a while to decide on how to slice with some. I like cutting down through all the bars to get the spectrum. 🤪👍

[@johnoakes6772]

Looks amazing .

[@redeyestones3738]

Not sure I'll ever understand why people mess with matrix. Seems like such a hassle for such a low value stone. But at the same time, I'm glad ppl are into it enough, because these videos get made, and they're interesting to watch.

[@jessicahart2115]

Cool Colours anyways..🤩

[@vickihart3684]

Seems you get better samples than I do here in the U.S. what I've been getting is what you call potch?? Crappy stuff for me lol

[@theopalmills]

G’day Vicki, I’ll be putting some rainbow matrix parcels up for sale soon, I’ll keep you in mind. 🤪👍

[@hudmumper]

Well I'm pretty sure I would have been with the old timers and picked up that rock and chucked it in the I Don't Know Why I'm Doing This pile. 😁But it had some nice colour in it, and the two that treated well ... they go in the Now I KNOW why I'm doing this pile! 😁🤣Absolutely awesome colour! I hope you were impressed coz they dang sure impressed me, and I'm sure they look better irl! Niiice work. 💪👏😁

[@matthewhayler601]

Someone asked why ppl f around with matrix when it is such a low value stone. I reason some of the nicest opalescent colour I’ve seen has Ben in matrix. Plus it’s cool to see the transformation sometimes

[@theopalmills]

The interest in matrix is picking up, it is a misconception that it is low grade, as there is some quite high grade matrix that doesn’t even need to be treated. When miners were mining back in the day, they were after the top gem opal as there was a market for it, and they discarded the matrix as nobody new about treating matrix, that’s all changed. Believe it or not, black opal from Lightning ridge when first discovered, was considered not fully or properly formed opal, worthless, and discarded. 🤪👍

[@509_drz_rider7]

That Louisiana opal sure looks like Andamoka matrix opa💯🤔

[@bradpacker8370]

Nice work mate

[@irmanbatuakik937]

good afternoon sir, I'm your subscriber from Indonesia I want to ask, I have opalized wood but the color hasn't come out yet. How do you make the stone color

[@theopalmills]

G’day Irman, the matrix opal has been treated, firstly soaked in hot sugar water, then hot sulphuric acid, then bi-carb soda solution to neutralise the acid. 🤪👍

[@irmanbatuakik937]

@@theopalmills Thank you sir, I'll ask again later

[@doreennacht]

Is the only way to get that color by treating it with acid? Or can you do that with just multiple sugar treatments and tossing them in the oven? Also, what does using the pressure pot do? Does that help with keeping the color after cutting? At least my understanding is with sugar treatment you have to always retreat it if you cut it. Also, is a flat lap just as good as an arbor for all kinds of opal?

[@theopalmills]

G’day Doreen, there are a few ways to treat the matrix, the idea is to get carbon deposited in the pores in a permanent kind of way. We use sugar for its carbon content as sugar is carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, that’s right, pull water and diamonds apart at the atomic/molecular level and mix them in the right order and you get C12-H22-O11 aka sugar. So once cooked in the sugar solution, we need to remove the H22 and O11 but leave as much of the carbon 12 as possible, this can be done with the sulphuric acid due to its reaction separating out the C, from the H and O, but also can be done by carefully raising the temperature in an oven, here’s where I’ll refer you to Riley Gunn aka 53frogs aka NN opals, he has put out a couple of videos of this method, on his KZbin channel, with more explanation on how to go about it and what to watch out for. The pot is actually a vacuum chamber, as liquids can have a high to low viscosity, it can affect the absorption rate as the sugar solution has to move oxygen out of the pores in order to fill them under gravity, so I submerge the matrix in a container of sugar solution, then place in the chamber to purge the oxygen from the stone, then when I release the pressure the only thing the can be sucked back in the stone is sugar solution. As the treatment only goes in maybe up to around 2mm, any work done to the stone after treatment may remove the treatment requiring a re-treat. I learned to cut on a flat lap, I’ve tried the others but I prefer the vertical flat lap for a few reasons, being it’s flat and the usable grind surface is larger than 2inch, I feel it easier to flatten material for doublets/backings, and for cutting larger material. 🤪👍

[@doreennacht]

@@theopalmills Very cool! That answered more questions that I had plus some I didn't even know to ask so thank you very much for that information! I absolutely appreciate it! So, is the only Australian Opal that's treated just this one or do they treat others as well? And yes, I'm very familiar with Riley's videos as well. I'm trying to learn as much as I can! So... Now, how can we put those specific ingredients back together instead of taking them apart! I'd definitely rather the diamonds over the sugar! Lol. Thank you very much for the info!

[@theopalmills]

@@doreennacht matrix opal can be found on most fields in some form, even QLD boulder opal is an ironstone/opal matrix, but as for treating to darken the stone, Andamooka is the most predominant with sandstone/opal, limestone/opal, quartz/opal and agate/opal matrix, and Winton in QLD produces “fairy matrix”, (sandstone/opal matrix) that is also commonly treated. Matrix means that two or more types of rock formed into one, for instance when gold is formed naturally in quartz it is a gold/quartz matrix. 🤪👍

[@matthewhayler601]

Notice you have got the primo model going. How does it compare to old faithful,and if it’s still good to go have you sold it and if not do you wanna sell it to me?

[@theopalmills]

G’day Matthew, as far as cutting goes, they both do the same job, but the new machine has more room to work and better lighting, I also have the new attachment, I’m getting that video ready. My Dad is using my other machine, sorry. 🤪👍

[@nikolai_kury]

Well done👍👍👍👍👍😍

[@coldshot5555]

nice job

[@shawncharton9416]

11:41 looks a bit like a bar of soapal.

[@theopalmills]

🤣👍

[@matthewhayler601]

This isn’t some of our best I’ll admit

[@요석-h3r]

Color is very light because bad.

[@gregorybowman4638]

Cook it with heat not acid.🤓

[@theopalmills]

G’day Greg, I won’t touch heat again, it’s a lot of mucking around drying the stones to make sure they won’t explode, so I’m stuck with acid, I’m happy with the results. 🤪👍

[@ingloriousbastard5028]

That last stone is stunning

[@CockatoobirdmanBill]

Do you ever sell concreat? I would like to play with some......... Good vid Be well and be safe.....

[@theopalmills]

If you’d like you can email me at [e-mail]

[@givemhellxxx]

shouldn't you not touch the stones in between the sugar and acid?

[@theopalmills]

G’day Amos, they are quite hot when they come out of the sugar, I sometimes use an old tea towel to deal with the excess, but this time I let them drip dry in a strainer, either way they still have a coating of sugar and as long as I handle them lightly, I’m not coming into contact with the stone, and any hand grease/oils won’t affect the treatment. I wouldn’t usually handle them without gloves, it’s messy, but I needed the shot. 🤪👍