Marble sand table

[skoronesa]

A very expensive house was built with a 13ft deep pool in the basement so they used some extremely fine sand, well packing, and pure under the base of the concrete for a firm base, this was extra. I have been wanting to make a table like this for quite some time. I only spent like 5 mins with a block packing and smoothing it. It was quite late so we haven't played on it yet, can't wait to do so on a non school/work night. Only took two 5 gallon buckets, still have two more. Roughly 3.5' by 4.5'.

[skoronesa]

Only 29 more days to the marble show in cromwell ct!!

[Steph]

Interesting.  So you will play marbles on it?  

At first I thought you might be talking about an art project.

[skoronesa]

Yes, we will be playing marbles on it.

[Steph]

Very cool.

 

It's weird how so many of us have thousands of marbles around and we don't shoot them. Any of them.  Even the cat's eyes or game marbles.

 I love that you do.  

[Hoody]

When marble plaing finishes the traces left will look like modern art.

Great idea to build an indoor marble game terrain!

[YellowMarble]

At first glance, i was thinking about a table to create sand marble runs, but i read that it is intended to play marbles on it?

[skoronesa]

Yes, unfortunately we still haven't gotten the chance. We were playing on the dirt floor up until now. I really need to dig out the basement and pour a slab.

[Steph]

That would be hard core.  

[skoronesa]

Sorry it took so long, played on it quite a bit since we made it. You had said it must make nice trails, at first you were wrong. There we barely any trails but as the days progressed and the sand and air dried out with it getting colder here the sand became fluffier and less able to be packed so it is very slow and the trails are quite pronounced. I am actually considering either wetting it down before play or getting a different media.

Pouring concrete as I mentioned was for the basement as a whole, it is a dirt floor and really needs a slab. However my first dreams of a great marble ring was painted concrete like in new jersey or a concrete ring like at tinsley green. I may still make another platform with a concrete ring. Yeah, I guess I am pretty hardcore relative to you guys. Ya bunch of phoneys, I bet you haven't knuckled down in decades!!! lolz, just kidding.

[skoronesa]

[skoronesa]

[skoronesa]

[skoronesa]

The third and fourth pictures show a game I made up. It's called "One, not two, but three".
 The idea is to shoot a mib into each of the three holes, taking turns, the first to do so is the winner. If you cause two marbles from the same player to be in a hole together you lose, whether you knock in yours or your opponents. If you knock in an opponents and they don't already have one in there it counts for them so you are helping them. Because of the differentiation between each players marbles you need two differently colored sets of marbles or in our case I used jabo classics and my son used dollar store marbles.

[skoronesa]

[skoronesa]

The last pic is us playing at the ball field which I guess our town has decided is superfluous and has let grass grow in the clay/sand. We do have 3 others for a town of only 3000. I kept those marbles in my glove box although I just replaced them with less valuable marbles. My son was surprised when I pulled them out. We were at open house at the school, we finished and were leaving when he asked if we could go home and play marbles while we had time without his brothers, I asked "why do we have to go home to play?"

[Hoody]

Really fine stuff, I like the new pictures. Okay, the traces are not so sharp as I had in my imagination. As you write the sand is getting dry and you think of wettening it before playing I remember the issue with wood being wet all the time: mildew and decay. So I think your wooden table construction might need some protection against the moisture creeping into the wood. Our wooden sandbox clearly shows this issue even with well treated and painted parts - okay it sits outside in the garden what makes things worse.

Using concrete instead has the disadvantage of the fixed arrangement. You can not just change the setup of the playground to another count and position of holes and so on. Or do you implement these arrangements in the slab you need to install as your cellar's floor?

 

This wooden construction your son handles in one of the pics: Is this something like a catapult to shoot out the marbles?

[Steph]

  making marble memories with Dad ... priceless.

[skoronesa]

19 hours ago, Hoody said:

Really fine stuff, I like the new pictures. Okay, the traces are not so sharp as I had in my imagination. As you write the sand is getting dry and you think of wettening it before playing I remember the issue with wood being wet all the time: mildew and decay. So I think your wooden table construction might need some protection against the moisture creeping into the wood. Our wooden sandbox clearly shows this issue even with well treated and painted parts - okay it sits outside in the garden what makes things worse.

Using concrete instead has the disadvantage of the fixed arrangement. You can not just change the setup of the playground to another count and position of holes and so on. Or do you implement these arrangements in the slab you need to install as your cellar's floor?

 

This wooden construction your son handles in one of the pics: Is this something like a catapult to shoot out the marbles?

 

Okay, several things, wet wood takes a long time to decay although yes, it would eventually rot. But I used pressure treated wood for the sides so that's fine and I would most likely make a metal pan to sit in the bottom so the water couldn't leach out.

If I make a concrete surface for playing marbles it would be a table, it would be round without holes. If I wanted holes or something I would make a plywood table, depending on the type it could have virtually the same surface texture as the concrete. I could even spread a thin layer of cement making it have an actual concrete surface. I wanted a concrete circle for authenticity, to be the same as in england. If I ever get around to pouring a concrete floor I will most likely paint a circle as in new jersey for the ringer tournaments.

The wood thing he has is a marble shooter, I made it. It was hastily done and one of these days I will make some nicer wooden ones. I have been thinking of a way I could make some with copper pipe.

[Hoody]

skoronesa - Thanks for your answers. Hm, a marble shooter ... that gives just an idea to me ...

[budwas]

Sokoronesa

A mixture of one part boiled linseed oil, one part spar varnish and two parts paint thinner will soak deep into the wood and seal it well. After its dry add another heavy coat.

Kenitic sand

50 lbs sand

6 cups corn starch

1/8 cup dish soap

Water

You can add a couple table spoons bleach to kill mold and bacteria. 

 

1.  

[skoronesa]

@Hoody You're welcome.

@budwas Thanks for the recipes, but my main ingredient will be lack of funds. I also like to keep it authentic for lack of a better term that doesn’t make me sound like a snob. I think I might make a couple more tables, one with sifted dirt, and another with sand from that old ball field. The sand table there is actually the old door to our basement+ a pressure treated 2x4 I had extra from a project.