Opals and Acetone

hello all…

i was wondering if there would be any danger of crazing opals by
soaking them in acetone for a prolonged period of time… say two or
three days to remove them from an inlaid ring that has to be sized
up. And if there was any crazing or drying out, how could it be
remedied if at all

thanks in advance

Hello Guy,

i was wondering if there would be any danger of crazing opals by
soaking them in acetone for a prolonged period of time. 

Sure sounds like a disaster about to happen. Inlaid opal rings are
not friendly to resizing and most manufacturers will simply replace
for a small fee. SEND IT BACK TO THEM. Sorry for shouting at you but
I have taken far too much money from jewellers that have come to grief
with these rings. Matching the opal can sometimes run into many
hundreds of dollars sometimes even more than the ring’s original
cost.

If you soak the inlay in acetone the resin bond will swell and
invariably chip or crack the inlay. Very very slow ramped heating can
sometimes allow the bond to release but small chips are almost always
caused. Getting them out is the easy part, compared with getting them
back in.

Do you think they will still fit after you have resized the ring?

Do you expect to get the same amount of resin under the opal so that
the inlay is neither below nor above the ring’s surface?

I strongly suggest that you decline this job, you have little to gain
and a lot to lose!

If you decide to ignore my warning I can certainly replace the inlay
for you and guarantee your customers satisfaction but you won’t like
my invoice.

Tony.
Anthony Lloyd-Rees.
www.OpalsInTheBag.com
www.TheGemDoctor.com
Vancouver,
Beautiful British Columbia.

g.goetz -

to remove them from an inlaid ring 

if you have time to order ‘solvent debonder’ from
http://www.paleobond.com/ it will dissolve any adhesive in a very
short time, not days! it’s made for removing cyanacrylic glues from
skin but it melts every adhesive i’ve tried it on without harming
opals, pearls, turquoise, lapis, etc. - or lips (don’t ask)!

it really is an ideal product to keep around, cheaper than
‘attacking’ stuff, and safer for you and the environment.

ive

Hi Guy,

I soak opals in acetone frequently, overnight and sometimes much
longer for example when I forget about them and they sit in the
acetone for a week or more. Never had a problem.

Cheers
Hans Durstling
Moncton, Canada

i was wondering if there would be any danger of crazing opals by
soaking them in acetone for a prolonged period of time... 

No… did it for a week to remove or loosen from glue

Jim

Egads! I love opal and treat mine with respect but am still learning
as a stonecutter what you can and cannot do to stone. I was taught in
Lapidary classes to put stones in the freezer that have been mounted
on a dop stick. After about 5 - 10 minutes you can just tap it and
the stone pops off with no harm done. Don’t know if this will work
for you, what is the stone set with? This method works for stones
mounted with traditional shellac and dop wax and for super glues. I
am not a jeweler though and do not know if bit of info will help with
a stone set into jewelery.

Also, something to keep in mind, is the opal natural or is it a
doublet or a triplet? Again, if it is not all natural opal the
bonding agent used to make the doublet or triplet, what will the
acetone do to that?

Just a little info in case it helps.
Cori

i was wondering if there would be any danger of crazing opals by
soaking them in acetone for a prolonged period of time... say two
or three days to remove them from an inlaid ring that has to be
sized up. And if there was any crazing or drying out, how could it
be remedied if at all 

This is practically impossible to predict. As my favorite gemstone
to cut, polish, set, grade, appraise and just plain enjoy, it is
occasionally the most frustrating as well. Some opals will craze
seemingly at any moment for no reason at all, while others will
never craze. At least, not in my lifetime.

Opals, even stones from the same deposit may have differ widely in
porosity. Many polish up to a near-impervious finish while others
soak up liquids like a sponge. I don’t know of a test that can
differentiate one end from the other but I suspect that would have
the most bearing on whether your stone would craze.

However, if you must make this attempt, I would suggest Attack
solvent. I’ve had very good luck dissolving epoxies that hold pearls
or inlaid opal without affecting either in any measurable way. No
pearls have come back, nor have any crazed opals. Then again, if a
crazed opal comes back, I couldn’t say if it were caused by the
solvent, or whether it was just that particular opals’ “time to go.”

There is no remedy for a crazed opal other than recutting it along
the craze lines. However, a product called Opticon is often used to
“stabilize” crazed opal, as are UV curing glues. Bear in mind that a
crazed opal’s value is ruined and the use of products such as
Opticon, or one of the UV curing glues that are also occasionally
used does not remedy or restore the stone OR its’ value and is easily
detected by a decent gemologist. As an old friend of mine used to say
“Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances.”

James S. Duncan, G.G.
James in SoFL

hey all thanks for the response…

unfortunately it is a little too late. I originally started soaking
this ring a couple of days ago in a diluted solution of acetone while
intermittently checking on the epoxy and kind of picking at it trying
to expose a new layers of epoxy. wed. at five PM the opals appeared
to be o.k. under 10 power gemscope no crazing that i could detect. my
most recent memory of a crazed opal looked like a dried up desert
floor and i most certainly did not see this at five P.M… now between
five wed and 2:30 Thursday afternoon out of four inlayed opals one
cracked right down the middle, one bleached a pale white as opposed
to the deep blue of the five o clock hour, and another one lost a big
chunk in the corner… the last one is apparently the alpha opal so
to speak with no apparent change or damage. all and all the opals
probably soaked for all of about 3 days. note I researched all the
old posts on the forums i could find, talked with a professional at
stuller and consulted some of my more experienced bench friends. And
did not see this extent of damage coming. BOY O’ BOY DID I JUST LEARN
MY LESSON!!! thanks for the responses i really appreciate the time.

guy

Hi Guy,

While I have as I said kept opals in acetone for a long time without
ill effect let me quickly second Tony Lloyd-Rees in respect of
freeing opal OUT of an existing inlay with acetone. Normally in
making the original inlay a manageable chip of opal is glued in proud
of the ring surface and then ground down flush to the metal and
polished. What is left after grinding flush is a minutely thin opal
wafer on a bed of epoxy. Even if it does come out intact, just
handling such a thin slivver without breaking is more than anyone can
reasonably expect, let alone fitting it back into its place, getting
the height right, etc.

I can echo Tony’s comment “I have taken far too much money from
jewelers that have come to grief with these rings…” Yes indeed.
That’s opal inlay. You might call it “the lapidary’s friend.”

Cheers,
Hans Durstling
Moncton, Canada

I have soaked opals in acetone with no problem, I have also VERY
carefully heated a ring with a torch to destroy the glue to remove
the opal to be able to size the ring, then reglue the opal. Do not
aim the flame in the direction of the opal, as in inlay down, heat
shank, and heat until glue starts to smoke or pushes the opal out of
the ring. Do not quench opal.

Never do anything unless you are willing to put the time and money
into repairing or replacing anything you damage. I can get paid
$30-60 each inay section.

I have done this many times. You just have to quote high enough, and
have opal on hand to match what you might damage. It is risky. But
it is possible, and experience will teach you quicky if you are cut
out to do this.

Richard Hart

I can echo Tony's comment "I have taken far too much money from
jewelers that have come to grief with these rings..." Yes indeed.
That's opal inlay. You might call it "the lapidary's friend." 

You’ll get no argument from me, Hans, but IMO, tanzanite is right up
there, too. It’s probably the #1 stone I see come in for repair or
re-cut. Somebody did a great marketing job…

Wayne Emery
The Gemcutter
Bettendorf IA