Stone treatment

Jewelry Discussion
1

The thread on opticon and other treatment brings me to this
question: does anyone know of a treatment that an individual can use
without industrial capabilities. Vacuuming was suggesting with
opticon but it seems that that would merely break the surface
tension. Is there some way to force the treat into the material? I
have some matrix opal from Queensland that is very unusual but some
of the matrix is very porous making it difficult if not impossible to
get a polish. The look of the material is very attractive, but
attempts to polish it result in some dirty patches. I’m not interested
in emeralds, heat treatments of diamonds and sapphires just matrix.
I’d would to do this for use in my own work not as a commercial
venture. Any suggestions or references would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks KPKDr. E. Hanuman Aspler
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2

A good way to think of what happens with any of the treatment
materials and vacuum, Kelly, is that when you cover the material
with the treatment goo and subject it to a vacuum the air in the
porous places expands and bubbles out. Then when you release the
vacuum the atmospheric pressure forces the goo into the crevices
where the air had been. Depending on the degreee of vacuum, you
replace 1/2 to 90+% of the air. You can do a lot with just the suck
from a vacuum cleaner rigged to some kind of a chamber. Not a very
"industrial" job at all, just a wonderful "appropriate technology"
use of physics!
Tom