Stabilizing Wildfire Opal

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

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[@chrispirolo170]

Thanks!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Oh my gosh, thank you very much.

[@sfbfriend]

One of my earliest tasks I did in aerospace manufacturing was impregnating electric motor stators. We used the same method with an epoxy resin and vacuum chamber, took quite a while to get all the air out of the epoxy. I was told that the theory behind the vacuum was as it pulled the air out of the stator it would pull the epoxy throughout, making it solid. Not so much the air pressure forcing into it. We use to impregnate under vacuum for 20 minutes.

[@Ontario_Rockhound]

A great and informative video, thanks for making it public for us plebs :)

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you for watching!

[@Mike-br8vb]

Always great info, and great videos! Thanks for doing all these experiments and posting them.👍🏻✔️

[@Rick-us7tx]

I like your passion!! So much to analyze! Ringo to ya!!!

[@thomasstocks702]

I have made my own vacuum chamber from a Walmart 2 gallon "cookie jar" and a homemade silicon washer. I have a Harbor Freight vacuum pump. I drilled a hole in the top handle of the cookie jar lid, added some plumbing fitting and a vacuum gauge from Amazon. I have tested it capability to hold a vacuum and it works great. However, it is waaaay to cold in my garage during the Wyoming winter to attempt to stabilize the cracked slab of agate that I want to work on, so waiting for this next summer to put it to an actual test. I have also watch the Dole Designs video. Keep up the good work, I do enjoy your channel.

[@bethmiklavcic180]

Thank you so much! Very much appreciated. Stabilizing is a PROJECT that is for sure.

[@debbiewilson6806]

I have been using a soaking method and have yet to try polishing or cutting. I would love to see how yours cut. Thank you for a great subject.

[@vernontafte1718]

Another great video thank you. I have a piece of that stuff that I’ve had for 30 years.

[@cliffmiller1021]

When I worked HVAC we built a vacuum chamber to watch the refrigerant bubbles get pulled out of the oil, and to study how long the vacuum would hold while we evacuated the system. We would keep the vacuum between 10-5 inches for an hour before shutting the valves and then let that set on the gauges for another hour or more before charging the system if it held. I understand this is not refrigerant and reacts differently, just my perspective maybe longer or deeper vacuums perform better. Nice set up, pretty straight forward.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I got a batch in right now which I will run for 3 or 4 days to test this out. Thank you!

[@MyWarriorspirit]

Thanks for this video! New to lapidary and living in SW Idaho. I have buckets of common opal, opalized pet wood, and some lower flash precious opal that I have collected. only thing I have really done with it so far is cutting thunder eggs and done some nice opalized pet cabs. so definitely been looking into stabilizing.

[@philstover2422]

Thank you for sharing this. You always have great content.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you!

[@markdavidson9720]

Cactus juice is for wood. I like to use opticon to stabilize. Pre form cab to 280 wheel and then soak in a heated water bath in a glass jar with opticon for half a day. I use a small crockpot. Then vacuum three times and add hardener and bake on an electric griddle. Do this outside or in the garage with ventilation.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Your statement that Cactus Juice is for wood isn't really that accurate, yes it can be used for wood, but as the manufacture says "Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin is a premium, professional grade, heat cured resin for impregnating wood. rocks, minerals, and other porous materials". Have you used this technique? How does it compare to what you describe with the opticon?

[@1erinjames]

The stabilized appears to have accentuated the details in the rock, ever so slightly, imo.

[@NWMcCabe11]

One suggestion that might help you drastically in every situation with this stuff is to pressure soak after the vacuuming process. You go to harbor freight and buy their pressure pot for painting and look up how to convert one of those for resin projects. There are about a million and half videos on here that’ll show you how. Then, if you do all the other steps you did your good to go, it's just personally I feel that is a huge factor for success/satisfactory results. Cheers brotha

[@RWOxner]

Very interesting. May need to try this, we have lots of fractured rocks that may be worth the effort.

[@jamesc954]

Heck yeah! Thank you for this video!

[@RandDill]

My experience with vacuum pumps I always get very close to -30 inches of vacuum. Either you have a leak or your pump is not up to snuff. One other thing I did not see you adding vacuum grease to your tank lid you do not need much. I use Dow Corning High vacuum grease. Side note I also use it on my threaded steel drain pipe to prevent the threads from getting rusted tight. When it comes time to open up to replace or clean out makes it easy to open up.

[@ocklawahaboyrocks]

The issues I've had with that material have not been with chunky pieces. They've been with trying to make cabs out of pieces like you broke. I think the value in stability is that it helps bind all of those layers together so you can work the stone. I haven't gotten around to ordering a setup but it's on the list.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

If you try this, I would love to hear or better yet, see how it goes for you.

[@spetkovsek57]

If I choose to work with a "less" stable type of material (Labradorite as an example) I shape it to 280, then cover it with Superglue until all the cracks are filled. Then after it dries the final time, I go back to 280 to remove the top layer of glue and continue on from there. Now Superglue is softer than most rocks, so the end result will have undercutting. But it will take a polish and is less likely to break apart on you. Also, if someone wanted to purchase the finished piece from me, I make sure they know it's been modified. It's the legal premise when dealing with the public. At this time I choose not to work with Turquoise because I think it's more plastic than natural. (This is just my personal opinion and choice!). Anyway, you could try doing similar with a cab. Cut it/ shape it, then try stabilizing it. I think the juice is so thin it will not fill the cracks completely and you'll still have them. But the stone will be stronger than non-stabilized. I don't think the expense of the vacuum chamber and chemicals is worth it for me. I'll leave the experimenting to you. You're a much better bookworm than I am. And we all appreciate you for that. Thanks again for another informative video.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Looking into it more, it seems like people will do a number of different things to get a stable rock. Like what I did here with the rough and then exactly like you're describing as well as you start to finish the material. At least as I understand it and subject to change, this method is better for that rough block since it pulls it all the way into every little crack and gap and what you're doing is a good final stabilizing. I do agree that it should be disclosed that something has been stabilized. I'll keep experimenting!

[@SissyMchill1]

Very nice information. Honestly the untreated opal looks better then the treated. Definitely wouldn’t be worth it for me to buy this equipment! But I have some Chrysocolla that would justify buying this equipment. Cause every other way I’ve seen to stabilize this material doesn’t work. I have some banded opal that taking an incredible shine in my tumbler. idk the exact name for this opal it’s certainly pretty as is yours. Thank you posting this, this is something I’ve wondered about.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Are you talking about the finished polish or the rough outside looking better?

[@SissyMchill1]

@ the finished untreated stone. I really didn’t notice a difference between the two. I’m sure the treated is stronger, what I mean is it, probably wouldn’t shatter if dropped on a hard surface.

[@darrickessley9257]

Thank you for sharing this. It answered quite a few questions I already had. One thing that I have continually seen in my research is that people will leave it in a vacuum overnight. Depending upon as you put it the porous nature of the rock I could see this as reasonable in order to ensure you’re pulling out majority of the air. One thing I’m wondering is if you were to have tried to polish it first then stabilize. Would it have filled in the cracks at that point? Also, in the video where you pulled this material out, a gentleman spoke of maybe taking slabs horizontally instead of vertically. If you have done the slabs vertically, would the voids have not come in to play? I have lots of material of chrysocolla, Shadikite and azurite mix that is extra normally brittle and porous that I intend to attempt stabilization with. It doesn’t seem to have the imperfections like this material, but will not hold under any pressure from cutting or polishing. Will keep posted.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm doing a multiday soak now where I will be leaving it for much longer. As far as I can tell, nothing ever fully fills the cracks in a way that will fully make them vanish, at best, you can hold a rock together but even doing something like polishing it or taking it up to a 280 and then stabilizing will only kind of fill the cracks. That is a good question about going vertically vs horizontally. I will have to test that.

[@bentationfunkiloglio]

Well, this is very helpful! After watching your video at the opal claim, I contacted the owners and ordered a few kilos of assorted opal. Plan is to make jewelry. However, I quickly realized that I’d need to find a way to stabilize the material. My initial thought was to cut and do some polish, then put epoxy. After epoxy, give it a final polish.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm sure you'll be able to make some nice jewelry with this material!

[@bentationfunkiloglio]

@ Definitely, some pieces are very stable and some what resemble Koroit boulder opal. Got some bubble opal in the parcel. Very cool.

[@Chris65018]

Super interesting. One thing I would be tempted to do is weigh before and after. I wonder, if any there is a difference ?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Yes, but it would be really minor.

[@adoniswalk]

It took me a bit to understand stabilizing. I've only heard the term a few times. This video is helpful. 😊

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thank you.

[@FreeformLapidary]

Starbond is really good for filling in cracks on a flat face as well. I haven’t seen it used after stabilizing though but that might be something to try.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I think a multistep approach might be good here. What I did here I think is good for the rough rock since it pulls the resin so far into the rock and then starbond can be good for later steps and it becomes finished.

[@mindseyeproductions8798]

Great video

[@yvespoirier7732]

I would have like to see the impact on hardness of the stones, not just the britleness. I understand that stabilizing can help crysocolla retain its color but I'm curious to know if it can make it hard enought for jewellry applications. Learning that I should wait for summer before trying to cook rocks with Cactus Juice was very valuable. Thank you!

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

There is no change to the hardness of the rock, like something with a mohs hardness of 4 is still a 4 when this process is done.

[@benjensen8540]

I don’t know anything about stabilizing rocks, other than what you just showed me. But that’s a pretty neat rock!

[@brysonalden5414]

This is very similar to the process used to stabilize wood for knife handle scales; most folks stabilizing scales use a resin from Total Boat.

[@RickSmith-kp3sy]

Jared, what about minerals with hydrophilic properties? Like semi or precious opals. I'm not sure where the opal you're working with falls in as far as losing water over time, but isn't this one of the primary benefits of stabilization?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm not sure about that but there is one way to find out. As far as I know, this is one of the main ways that rocks are stabilized.

[@______IV]

Lapidary noob here. I think it’s time I pull the trigger on getting a vacuum chamber. Any suggestions on a good but not too expensive pump? I see lots of people who buy a chamber/ pump combo, then realize the pump it comes with is underpowered. I don’t have much $$ but want a decent pump from the get-go.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Well, I don't think this pump is underpowered since it can remove all the air from the rocks but time will tell how long it will last.

[@nickitoff9629]

I really enjoyed the video. Curious about using this process on fossils. Also, curious if this would aid in keeping the moisture in the Opal while working it. I learned the hard way that heat can destroy the opalescence.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Those are great questions, time for you to do some experimenting!

[@FangBlah]

The link for the vacuum chamber seems to go to the Cactus Juice.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Thanks for letting me know! I got it fixed.

[@FangBlah]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding Awesome; love what you are doing all around!!! I am starting to look into this process of stabilizing different materials(stone and wood)to make scales for handmade knives. Please let us know how these products hold up. Thank you.

[@kirstinbone]

Could you just use a pressure pot, which would make any air bubbles just very small? Or would the result be different?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm not sure, I've never used a pressure pot.

[@peterchesko9537]

Nice lesson video, thanks! I've been curious about Virgin Valley Opal. Opticon has been mentioned here and it seems like a good product for that. The limb casts are beautiful and to add some strength and durability could be helpful.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

I'm not sure, I've never worked with Virgin Valley Opal.

[@peterchesko9537]

@@CurrentlyRockhounding That material is beautiful but crazes when you look at it. I've cut it and had it fall apart in my fingers. I've also sculpted/carved a few limb casts with full color into nice specimens. The philosophies of the miners seems to conflict with what might be possible to make a marginal product ready for the market.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

@ I will keep that in mind but I don't know when if ever we will go, there do to the price of those fee digs.

[@GaryFord-y3y]

How much did it cost? Do you think it was cost effective to do?

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Prices change and there are links to the items used in the description box. Cost effective is pretty subjective, isn't it? I mean, if you make unworkable material workable, it's worth it.

[@brianholcomb940]

I am by no means an expert on this, but if you are going to stabilize rocks and use a resin and vacuum pot, wouldn't you want the resin to fill all the cracks so when you polish you don't see any? Is it because the resin is still liquid, and you bake it to harden that it that it doesn't keep the voids full? I will say again that I'm no expert, but that seems like a lot to do for the same results. I do like these educational videos, but for me, I don't think I would have a need to do this. It was well worth my time to watch this, though. Thanks for sharing.

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

That would be nice, but there is no such thing that exists that can fill a crack in a way where the eye cannot see it.

[@Salish_Redbone]

👌

[@adoniswalk]

Off topic question for you: I got into rockhounding only in the last year. I was so determined to ID my finds and found the below SG video. Do you have a grams scale (with decimal places) to do a video about it? The newbie that I am - I bought a whole # scale and my results are skewed, I think. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2WrlHypaLtnn8Usi=U86UCIafiJ5SFhRA

[@CurrentlyRockhounding]

Yeah, you'll definitely need a more accurate scale to get accurate specific gravity measurements.