MarbleMan44

Selbram, An onyx 10" for $160, you got a terrific terrific bargain! A chunk of Onyx in the rough alone at that size would command the price you paid for a finished sphere, not to mention the time and grit it would have taken to make that. The steps leading up to just getting a chunk of rough ready for the grinder is very time consuming. Here is a larger marble type sphere recently finished. It measures 2 3/4" across and is made out of Alabaster with black inclusion highlights. It is a material that is readily available in my area. I believe I am going to try rejuvenating a pitted marble and see how it comes out. Thanks for all the help people. Bob

Hope this works. A 1" clear quartz marble, produced on one of my home-made sphere machines. Bob

So many thanks for the information. I am learning but may take a while. I did find the Marble Glossary, very interesting. Mib = Marble, I thought it was a new marble in the box! I sell and buy a lot of rocks & minerals on Ebay. Sounds like the bad apples dealing in marbles are like those dealing in rocks. Sure some unscrupulous sellers out there. I know you sure have to watch what you are doing when buying. I have made some 1" clear quartz marbles with rutile in them. I'll have to post some pics when I figure that maneuver out. Again thanks. Bob

Thanks much for the advice. I will do that. Thank you. Bob

Hi All, I am a real newbie here but really getting interested in marbles. Have been buying them at estate sales for years because they look so interesting. The more I buy, the more I seem to want more! Being a newbie, I have noticed some terms that I am not familiar with. They include: mib; subsurface moons; tweezered off & pontils. Could someone help me out here with these terms? Along that same line, my main vice is making rock spheres from 1/2" to bowling ball size, usually out of Agate. Although any rock without cracks(minor flaws are OK) are suitable for making a sphere. With rock, one needs to use a silicon carbide grit with a water drip. To get an excellent polish on the harder type rocks, one needs to use a diamond paste towards the last polishing stages. I have all 3 head grinding machines which gives nearly a perfect roundness when finished compared to 2 head machines. Would the diamond paste use on smaller marbles in restoring them work with my machine methods? Thank you. Bob

My vice is making rock spheres from 1/2" to bowling ball size, usually out of Agate. Although any rock without cracks is suitable for making a sphere. With rock, one needs to use a silicon carbide grit with a water drip. To get an excellent polish on the harder type rocks, one needs to use a diamond paste towards the last polishing stages. I have all 3 head grinding machines which gives nearly a perfect roundness when finished compared to 2 head machines. Would the diamond paste use on smaller marbles work with my machine methods? Thank you. Bob