leroy65

You are right as I understand it. Most all glass contains varying amounts of the heavy metal LEAD. It is used in glass to soften it I am told. ----Leroy----

Lisa, Please send me an e-mail at [email protected] and I'll get all the information to you right away. Thanks and later----Leroy---- Wow! That was fast (LOL) and I just send you all the information. (I didn't look at my e-mail before coming to the board and when I did your e-mail was there.) Later----Leroy----

The one marble that I had for trading has been traded. Thanks----Leroy----P.S. Ever wonder why glass can stop radioactivity from migrating?

Several years ago my mentor (the person that made my marble reconditioning machines) told me that he had purchased some special glass that had been developed to install in the doors of Nuclear furnaces so the fire inside could be seen. The first try didn't work so they redid the formula and sold off the first batch of glass. He sold me 4 of the marbles that he had made from this glass. The glass is very clear and lemon yellow in color as well as being fairly soft. It does not glow or put out any rad's. The marbles measure 1 7/8" and each one weighs a little over 10oz. A German hand made with a caged large ribbon core of the same size weighs slightly over 3oz. One is on display at the marble museum here in York. I traded one for some marbles and if anyone would like to have one I will trade one, (I have two left) but only one for a marble or some marbles. If you are interested just email me at [email protected] ----Leroy----

I have run out of custom marbles (those that I have a fee for) needing help, so if you have some and would like for me to help them, now would be a good time to send them to: Leroy Johnson 1516 Kennedy Drive York, Neb. 68467 [email protected] Phone: 402-362-6204 Cell: 402-366-9246

Thanks Bill for your comments and posting the pictures of those cullet marbles. I think they are beautiful and anybody that doesn't think so, please post some marbles that you think are. It has taken all kinds and types of people to make up this old society, some like this and some like that and some people don't like anything. Some see the beauty in recovered glass and others think it should be left underground forever. You know, recovered glass such as diamonds, Rubies or cullet glass and etc. They don't think old items should be restored such as, auto's, paintings, furniture or old beat up marbles. I think it's nice that we don't all like the same things as it would be a very dull world it we did, I think. ----Leroy---- P.S. I have been connected to marbles since I was very young and was playing marbles at recess when I was in the first grade in 1942. By the way, no flame or heat was used on Bill's cullet. The cullet was slabbed and cut into an eight sided cube. Than I took the corners off with my diamond wheel and than on to the reconditioning machines.

Comment about the marble that still has it's pontil after the polishing process. Every once in awhile when I'm working on a set of marbles I run across a marble that only needs to be final polished (which removes no glass) to bring it back to a pin point shine. When this happens how do you describe the marble? Do you indicate that it has been polished, buffed, or indicate nothing or what? What are your thoughts along this line? Than there is the pontil that is slightly lower than the surface glass allowing me to remove damage, but not the pontil. The way a three headed machine works is by removing the high area's as it removes the damage. Generally the pontils start out as the high spots thus they are the first to go with a three headed machine. ----Leroy----

99marbles131 Send me your email address to: [email protected] and I will send you my Marble Reconditioning Information and Price Sheet. In the meantime I'll tell you that all Sulphides are $8.00 plus postage and insurance if desired. Later----Leroy----

99, If you will send me your email address to [email protected] I will send you information on reconditioning marbles with a three headed machine. I have helped several people that desired to help hurt marbles to restore them to their beauty. Later----Leroy----

I will certainly miss being able to pick up the phone and give Bo a call or have the phone ring and when I answer hear his voice say "Hello this is Bo, how are you and Ms. Judy doing"? I will miss Bo very much. Rest in peace Bo. ----Leroy----

I don't have the answer to the question, but just suppose the people that started making machine made marbles were trying to duplicate agate marbles which were very popular way back when. Therefore, beings the machine made marbles resembled real agates (both are round) in order to attract the attention of marble buyers they just added the "agate" word to their id (label). Remember before you hang me, I said the word "suppose". ----Leroy----

I would like to have information on the latest published book about cats eye marbles. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks----Leroy----

Mib$, First let me say that I love your Avatar. I have a "Tortoishell" cat setting in my lap while attempting to type this. She keeps trying to catch my mouse scribe as it moves and blinks across my monitor screen. I have reconditioned many Jabo marbles, (took out the white contact point's in earlier ones and as made imperfection in later ones.) I have seen the interior (broken) of many Jabo's and they all have stripping that runs all the way through them. I put this up to just back up what sissydear and others have said. I will say that if you have any of the earlier (last couple or three years or longer ago, time gets away from me) 1" white base oxblood Jabo marbles (I believe these were experimental at the time) you have some very, very fine Jabo's. IMO----Leroy----P.S. They remind me a lot of the Akro milky Oxbloods.

After seeing this item, I did some re-shuffling as I had a very old presidents board setting on top of one of my marble cabinets with those Chinese marbles on it. They now are elsewhere and some German Hand-made marbles took their place. Years ago the first ones of those Chinese marbles that I had seen were offered by Marble Allan. I bought a few hundred of them and so did the Lee's Marble Museum here in York, Neb. Later----Leroy----

BJ, I feel you most likely already know this, but I'm going to say it anyway. There are insulators that are worth good money. They are the Amber, deep blue, and other clear glass colors. If there are any of those around there I don't think they should be melted down. IMO----Leroy----

Thank you folks very much and be assured that the pictures and information are very helpful.---Leroy----

I'm wondering if anyone has any Peltier "gray Coat" marbles and if so could you or would you post a picture? Thanks----Leroy----

Yes sir, 3/4 of a century, now if I can just take what I've learned and the experiences I've had and live them for the next 1/4 century it should be very interesting. ----Leroy----

Thank you all for the greetings. My birthday went just great, ( I reconditioned marbles from 8am until 5pm and for once the machines worked without a hitch.) ----Leroy----

One of the ways to tell if a marble has been reconditioned is to look at the ends of the colored glass ribbons. If it has been reconditioned the ends will be white. My two cents worth----Leroy----

Rich, You bring up an interesting subject and I'd love to try your suggestion. Send me an email at [email protected]. There are some things about breaking off the impact before melting that you should consider. Consider that once you "knock" off the shattered glass of an impact the glass is gone from that area and what you have left is a hole with missing glass. In other words it seems to me that in order to heal an impact or chip or whatever on the marble by remelt, one needs to have the glass that is there so that it "fills" in. This will most likely leave residue on the surface that can be removed with my method very easy. When I receive marbles with impacts that still have the glass, I have a very small hammer that is pointed on one end. I use this the "knock" off the impact glass and in so doing it will reduce the machine time considerably. If it is real bad as some of them are, I take the marble to my Diamond Arbor and grind off most of the damage. By doing this it will take hours and hours off of the time that the marble will have to spend in the machine with the first stage. What happens with an impact that still has the glass in it, is the glass will act as a bridge and the grinding heads will have to grind the surface of impact glass down (until they are gone) as well as the rest of the marbles surface. Sure hope this makes since (plain as day to me-LOL) Anyway, I'd sure be happy to try your suggestion, Rich. Later----Leroy----This is my own opinion and unless you have more and better experience and information it is not subject to ridicule or condemnation.

Steph, You are right about hand polishing. If a person has the time and the know-how hand polishing works very well. It has its set backs just like other things, such as: Keeping the marble round, takes a lot of work and is hard on the hands, takes much longer (maybe by now they have figured out a faster method). I have been reconditioning marbles for more years than I care to think about and there isn't any way with the machines that I use to do just part of a marble surface. However, before I had my first machine made I was doing something different (didn't work) and along came a friend (a Lapidaries) and the next thing I knew I was running a three headed machine and I've been running them (six at the present time) ever since. I've tried tumblers (don't), working on them by hand (I now have problems with my hands and wrist due to being a senior citizen) and two headed machines, (don't even think about it.) LOL A two headed machine works fine after you get it set (takes some doing and sometimes a lot of time) and than you can set with it and turn the marble with a stick (just keeping the marble round can be a challenge.) What I have written here is from my own experiences and is not subject to ridicule or condemnation, unless you have more and better experiences than I have. ----Leroy----

I guess it won't hurt to put my two cents worth in about pontils and reconditioning. If any grinding has to be done on a handmade marble in order to remove damage one of the first things to go is the pontil. In the three headed machines (which I use), damage is removed by taking off the high points on the marble, removing top glass until the damage is gone or until the operator stops the process. In other words with a three headed machine leaving certain area's untouched can't be done. If the pontil is lower than the marble surface, chances are it can be mostly saved or a portion thereof. My two cents worth----Leroy----

Happy birthday Bo and I hope you have many more. ----Leroy----

Hello Akrodog, My contact information is: Leroy Johnson 1516 Kennedy Drive York, Nebraska [email protected] 402-366-9246 -Cell- Thanks----Leroy (leroy65)----