RolleyHoleMan

Here’s the marble for today. It does have a crystal pit which causes a low spot in the marble though the rest is in pretty tight tolerance. This is a really interesting marble. It has yellow and white in it along with some neat structures and a deposit that looks like a bunch of small spheres. Sometime when I remember, I need to look more into ways to quiet this setup. The pully and shaft moves side to side causing a lot of chatter when the pulley smacks either side of the opening. Anyways, I was gifted a book called “noodling for flatheads” which is similar to an online book I found (and lost). The online book I’ve lost track of went over southern social games and activities popular with men and placed Rolley Hole between cockfighting and general store meetups. The book “noodling for flatheads” is similar in subject but it’s a series of essays covering niche activities that aren’t really well known to the general United States, or at least not in depth. I figured it would be best to go through the whole book, but Rolley Hole is one of the last chapters. So far it’s pretty well written while also being written in a fair way. I once read a paper published up north that was more along the lines of “we want to talk about these hicks, their marbles, and make them look dumb while doing it”. This book doesn’t seem to do that. A couple people have told me about the book and said it focused a bit on a particular player, but I’d have to read it for myself. The book was written (or I guess published) in 2001, with the main focus (according to the screenshot I’ll include) was the 1992 trip to England. A friend of mine said the description seemed “absolutely deranged” if you never heard of Rolley Hole. Keep in mind that 99% of the things online start with comparing it to pool or golf, then give the same general descriptions that can bore an interested person to tears. There’s not a lot of “original” takes on Rolley Hole to be found so I’m excited to see what it holds. Most articles repeat older articles and so on and so forth. New articles are the same and have no personal touch, and often seem written at a distance and by someone who’s entire Rolley Hole experience comes from a screen. That’s my long post for the night. With two job interviews coming up I might as well get it out of my system. Getting feedback from past interviews I’ve been told to stop talking about Rolley Hole in job interviews. Unfortunately I sure don’t have much else to talk about. It’s their choice to chose the marble man of standing stone for interviewing.

Finished another black/blue marble. Sure is a pretty one and it polished up very nice.

Using the Rolley Hole museum setup as reference, I took out a Dremel tool and cut some notches into my rubber wheel. Surprisingly it really did help and it seems it not only cuts faster, but allows the marble to be grabbed and spin more in every direction. I finished a pretty cool “pink” marble from material found in the Tennessee River. I installed new bushings in my grinder again and got it to chatter quite a bit less. Lowe’s advertised the bushings as oil impregnated but I don’t know, they didn’t seem to be greasy like they should have. I still drilled a hole in both of them to allow the oil wells on the grinder to work. With making marbles you’re fighting the grit from the cups and the stone grit from the marbles, so things wear out faster. One of the reasons we use belt drive gear is we put a ton of hours on equipment and it’s easier to repair grinders and replace motors instead of killing these new bench grinders that are $100 or more.

https://www.facebook.com/p/Rolley-Hole-Marble-Museum-61552774450255/ This is a link to their Facebook page where they post updates and general stuff going on there. They also cross post stuff from the other marbles groups in the area. It’s the best way to keep with the marble news. Right now everything is in the beginning stages. They have funding on the way from different grants and the Tennessee Arts Commission. Rolley Hole also received an award from the governor recently so it’s getting more recognition overall. This is the first time an event and not a person got an award. Many marble players were at the governors mansion for the award ceremony.

Here are some photos from the Rolley Hole museum in Celina. I was up there at a little restaurant and figured we might as well drive the courthouse. All the doors were wide open with no one around, and the door to the Rolley Hole section was open. Probably wasn’t supposed to be in there but oh well. This is the courthouse in the square of Celina, Tennessee where the marble museum is held. They did just get a bunch of funding and man, the building needs it. It’s a standard old town worn courthouse that has that feel of history. Heres a big photo of Bud over a table of marble making supplies. The case features many marbles of many materials, and there’s a ton of rock scraps and a small nodule for display. This is the rubber wheel on the grinder. Note the grooves cut into it to “bounce” and grip the marble. This is something I need to do to my wheel. One thing to note is this is a very large wheel, which appears to be to a longboard skateboard. Here is a trophy and some marbles from the late Russell Collins who recently passed away. No one was there to tell us what was what, but the small glass marble appears to be a marble for British marble, probably from when the team went over there and smashed the British. Heres a rough platinum record from the Kentucky Headhunters song “Dumus Walkers” A display of marbles. I would guess that due to the speckled marble that these are from Mr.Carr. He gives marbles away and also gives them to the kids marble club so they can sell them in order to fund their trip to New Jersey. Some of the marbles for sale. These are marbles used by champions in winning games of Rolley Hole. It was really cool to see the marbles played with by people I know, and some before my time. Sure wish it was possible to measure them. This is a book I was given today by Bobby Fulchers son. This is a marble made by Dumus Walker shown to me by one of the staff at the park. He’s pointing at a location where there was a sand pit he had someone remove, and then the marble was spun down. Not something I would have done. The marble now measures .74. I was able to show my marbles to some of the makers and players today and everyone is very very happy with how they look. More than anything they really liked the rough finish and talked about slick marbles causing many failed shots. Mr.Carr likes to give polished and that’s what’s for sale in the park gift shop. These are mostly for the tourists. One main takeaway from the marbles on display is they look like I made them, so it seems I’m doing alright. The material from this area is very distinct and it’s easy to tell when material comes from elsewhere. We also talked in great length about the struggle of demonstrating marble making to the general public. Interest is very low and the noise causes all marble demonstrations to quickly be shut down, moved, or both. My parents chimed in with how annoying and loud my machine is so tomorrow I’m off to Lowe’s to pick up some oil impregnated bronze bushings for the grinder. Standard bushings haven’t lasted me all that long.

The Tennessee agate marble has sold. There’s something about that colorful material haha. Tomorrow I plan to go to Standing Stone and hit the marble yard. I grabbed maybe 20ish marbles. Most of the marbles are from a big piece that I was told was no good, so me being me I kept on with it and made a big ole bunch of clear marbles. Most are kept gritty for some good control and hard shots. Going to a marble yard is a great way to get a piece of humble pie. Most likely I will be best to a pulp and made fun of, but it’s always in good fun. Here’s a photo of many of the clear marbles. If anyone wants to play they’ll probably have to be marked with a marker to really keep up with them.

Finished the “Tennessee agate” marble and well, sure looks like a few marbles I made a while back. Those were fine marbles, but I’d have to admit this one is chert like I was told. For whatever reason it’s a very difficult marble to polish. It has a tiny bit of haze so it’ll get some more spinning but it’ll probably need an alternative method.

Been a little busy so my marble time has been limited. I’m getting back into it between job interviews and projects. Lately I’ve been busy digitizing old photo negatives and photos which was what I did at standing stone. Long story short, I found the same model high end photo and negative scanner at a thrift shop for $6.99 vs the $300 it usually costs, so I’ve been playing with that. I moved the scanner to my workplace yesterday to have something to do there, and to have only one hobby (marbles) going at home. The downside to having the power to digitize negatives is there’s never enough negatives. It’s time consuming but I guess like Rolley Hole you can never have enough. Anyways here’s some marbles. I got them much more shaped up and rounded. A couple have some real troubling flat spots which are unfortunate. A marble will only be as big as the lowest point, and a good .80 marble can quickly become a .75 trying to make it right.

Spun some of the marbles today and worked on some that have been in progress for a good while. What my method is now is on Friday and Saturday I’ll make a bunch of spheres, then before work Monday-Thursday I’ll work on one particular marble. That does cause some like the large creamy marble to be set aside. I did some rock hunting today in one of those delightful Tennessee streams that has a bunch of signs saying the fish will give you Cancer. The area I’m in was home to the Manhattan project and well, let’s just say there’s a lot of what the locals call “nasties” buried out here. I also checked in some local fancy neighborhoods under development. Since I drive an old car and typically have a rough appearance people do keep an eye on me, especially in these fancy neighborhoods filled with people who moved here from other states. Nothing soothes a concerned Floridian like a man in all green, thick Appalachian dialect (if anyone is into accents there’s some good videos on all that, and they make some of my weird ramblings make some sense). Anyways going to all these places I decided to call it quits on the local rocks. Hours of searching and studying maps really shows the area just isn’t a bit of good. Lastly I hit an estate sale that was supposed to have some marbles according to the photos. Seems someone bought them all so there may be some marble fans hiding out around these parts. Glass marbles are something the locals do buy up regardless of what they are. Same goes for pocket watches for example. I’ve watched many of men grab watches at sales that I’ve diagnosed and they don’t care. Watch is a watch and marble is a marble to these folks.

Here’s the marbles from this morning. The pinkish one is going to be a challenge since it has a fault or some weird line running through it, and the marble chips along that line. The yellow marble is one I made from a cube I had trimmed up using my saw. When you can manage to cut a cube right, the time it takes to make a rough sphere can be less than 20 minutes.

All comes down to your requirements for a marble. If you’re looking for anything in particular I’ll see what I can do. For the time being it comes down to material and what I can find and what turns out suitable. The locals give me a hard time for not saying where particular material came from, but it all boils down to me really not knowing.

https://vintagetsp.etsy.com Here is the link to my shop on Etsy. I must admit I’m not the biggest fan of Etsy since it’s a bit new for me, though I have gotten more sales and views than eBay. Originally I was listing on eBay and Etsy at the same time, and would always have more spam and such on eBay. I would say the annoying thing with eBay is the offer system. I often receive really low offers on there. I can also send offers to watchers and those usually go unanswered even at a large discount. There’s been times where I’ve wondered if someone would buy a marble at half price, which they don’t. I have various items that have been listed for years at this point with watchers, often the items are incredibly rare. Locally I’m known to be like the “American pickers” in the eyes of the old folks. But I just like junk and old stuff. Anyways on Etsy vs eBay there’s one difference that gives Etsy an edge. People on there ask good and genuine questions that show a great interest in Rolley Hole, marble making, and the general area. On eBay there just hasn’t been those types of interactions and the interactions I’ve had are odd. People request marbles to order which is fine, but none of them will understand that material (like the butterscotch) is hard to find and when they can’t have one of those marbles, they lose interest.

I listed a bunch of marbles on Etsy to see what would happen. Pricing is something I’d say I’m a bit high on, though it’s been very very hard to judge. The colored marbles (orange and brown especially) have sold well in the past. Someone bought one and told me about how their family was from that area and played marbles (the buyer moved a good ways away). The marble they got was their one piece of Overton County and was quite special to them. Anyways the white marbles which are the traditional ones get very little attention. I guess it comes down to aesthetics. People ordering or even just looking like the more unique marbles. Also, here’s the piece of “Tennessee agate” or more likely chert that I clear coated today. Some friends of mine are obsessed with it. Now it’s been rejected by rock forums as “agate” however there’s some interesting things going on in it. Around the geode pits there is banding which is why the original thought was “agate”. What likely happened it the nodule formed and the holes were later filled in a little at a time with hot mineral-rich water which formed these layers and crystals. Who knows, I’m not a geologist.

Forgot my photos! I have a new bin I keep cubes in though I may go back to the tool box I was using. Top drawer is the “top shelf” material though most of it isn’t really all that good. Other drawers are pieces I can’t seem to part with nor bother trying out. also pictured is my saw getting sprayed with WD40. When I am done cutting, I drain the saw and allow the blade to spin while holding a rag to it. When it’s dry I run it while spraying it with WD40. Lapidary people online don’t like this for a few reasons, mostly that the cooling fluid is water with a little dish soap.

Did a little cube cutting today. I was hoping to show my sister some marble making and such but didn’t get around to it. Mostly I cut some cubes and tried to work on some spheres, with one sphere exploding. I made a black sphere and started on a pink one which is super hard material. Seems more and more like I need to order another Diamond wheel. I have a job interview coming up for Henry Horton State park on April 11th. I don’t know much about the park yet but if I’m driving across the state, I’m picking up rocks. I’ve tried (and failed) to make a marble for every park I’ve interviewed for. Sometimes the interview is not on park, other times the geology just doesn’t work out. I must admit I’m more interested in a park when they’ve got some nice rocks or a lake that might hold some nice rocks. If I don’t get a full time job I already have a park I'm supposed to go to. I’ve been debating on bringing a marble making rig and a saw, but that may be a bit much. So there may be a several month pause on making marbles.

For a marble related update, I did sort some marbles and pull out some that I should list online. Seems I’m not doing a good job at it since all I want to let go are what most would consider rejects or marbles that shouldn’t be made. Seems I keep measuring and inspecting marbles and then deciding to keep hanging onto a ton “in case I need them”. These are the only ones I’ve picked out. My way of looking at it is my price is the price someone pays to save the cost of traveling to Rolley Hole. At the end of the day the best way to get a marble is to come on down to Rolley Hole and get the full experience.

Good eye. That is one of my prized possessions in regards to Rolley Hole. Mr. Malcolm Strong who was a famous marble maker and Tennessee Square player (brother of Junior Strong the famous Rolley Hole Player), was who gave me that tin. When I first met him, he was sitting in the rec hall smoking a pipe. I talked to him and he gave me this tin talking about how the “old timers” kept matches in them. Later in the day I found a pocket knife he was using and returned it to him after a long hunt (at the time, he moved fast and seemed to teleport around the grounds). I used the tin to carry my marbles for over a year until he passed away. All my state-issued green pants have a hole in a particular pocket from carrying this tin, and I carried it with me all over the state and parks I worked at. Having that tin and marbles on me even got many people to come to Rolley Hole. That’s why it’s in my marble case. I don’t carry it anymore since I don’t want to lose it. What’s unusual about it is it was once a full length can, and Malcolm cut it down to the current size and reinstalled the metal bottom which presses in. Sometimes this would pop out with too many marbles. Malcolm always carried around a 14oz plastic tub/container of Prince Albert, which I also smoke. In the background of some of my photos there will sometimes be red plastic tubs which are the modern Prince Albert tubs. When traveling around I keep example cubes and marbles in them.

The gentleman who made arrowhead marble sets used to come to Rolley Hole. I’m not sure when the last time was he attended but we don’t offer this game at the tournament anymore. What I was told was that the game is meant to be something for folks who can no longer get down and shoot marbles, so it’s a more accessible marble game. Never looked into how it’s played but have seen sets in the marble room at the park.

Finished black marble #2. It has a section that has some sort of deposit, but overall it’s a very pretty marble. There’s 3 cubes left of this stuff for a total of 68 cubes and pieces of various quality from poor to excellent (I actually counted this time). Here’s some photos of all the marbles in the case. In my pocket I carry 10 additional marbles which aren’t pictured, though there’s not much to see. I carry mostly clear marbles, 1 butterscotch, and 1 creamy color that (the material) came from a ranger who was at Standing Stone for I think 40 years. If I’m not mistaken he was there from 1973-2013 but I may be wrong. He was the individual who said all the marbles I made were too small, so I made him a big .90 marble for Tennessee Square. Anyways there’s still a couple spheres to shape up, though both have been challenging since when grinding they lose big chunks, with one having crystal pits.

Managed to mess with some marbles this morning. I finished one of the “black” marbles which is chert with fossils in it, and finished a good .785 (or so, I forget) shooter from the Overton county material I had. There’s still a few marbles to finish from that material, and still a black one to finish up. After these are done it’ll be time to look at the cubes and think of what should be tried next. I have probably 30 or 40 cubes though I haven’t counted. When moving stuff around in the garage there were some nice cubes on the floor that must have fallen off the cart, which happens a bit due to vibrations. Next on the agenda I’d like to at least make some marbles from the material I called “Tennessee Agate” though some folks online think it’s still a type of chert. Whatever it is it’ll look pretty cool if it’ll polish. Some materials like the black chert polish super glassy even at 600 grit, while others aren’t even close to that finish at 3000 or 6000 (the final). Some material may need more spinning in the lower stages or the structure of the material itself could be no good for polishing. Note how the black marble is more of a blueish black. Really cool stuff though the fossils aren’t as prominent as expected. The fossils are usually crinoids though in the area there were some clam fossils. All fossils I’ve seen are sea critters, and are common as dirt. Usually they are bits and pieces not embedded in anything. A lot of locals swear the colorful stuff here is petrified wood, though nothing has ever looked like petrified wood I’ve seen. Some of the guys make some expensive marbles from stuff like that found out west. The prices are always insane but we do that with marbles we like. Some of the marbles I need to list will be higher since it don’t bother me a bit to keep them. As the old saying regarding junk goes, “I don’t have to feed it” so it can stay around since it’s costing nothing.

The mystery rock is slag according to some rock hounds on the internet. Didn’t get around to making any marbles today. If I did my counting correctly I have made 88 marbles. Still a long way from the goal of 100 marbles by May. I may not hit that goal since my motivation is a bit down, plus other projects. Seems I’m just making marbles to sit in a case or carry in my pocket while not teaching marbles or marble making.

I’m going to post it on a rock forum and report back about what it is. The lakebed had a ton of them laying around but it’s best to just grab one and go from there.

Did some rock cutting today. Nothing turned out to be useable but now there’s a new thing to look out for when looking for nodules. The main nodule I was excited about is very very dense, or it seemed to be. I’m not sure what on earth it is, but it’s actually a very soft material with what appears to be pieces of metal in it. The saw cut through it very quickly which was a red flag. I also cut a small piece of pink material which broke at the last second. So for now there’s no new promising pieces of material. It got too dark to trim cubes so the saw is drained and prepped to prevent the blade from rusting. Also I cut a nodule from the family farm out of curiosity. Very colorful but again, no good for anything. It’s too fragile to slab without it breaking apart. I may start donating these to the school I work at since there’s nothing I can do with them.

The pieces I got today had some heft to them so I’m hopeful, though most pieces around here are so fractured that failure is to be expected. What’s interesting is the location I found todays material is actually a stream that runs into the lake. Based on all the rocks and pieces of glassware I found, it seems this stream flowed through the area before the river was raised up. I did find some odd smaller rocks which are interesting. I need to post them tomorrow when cutting material. One of the pieces was a pinkish red piece of quartz which might make a marble, and the other was a tiny piece of green chert which is really odd. Knowing the area, these may have been dumped. Around the area there were plenty of bricks, China, military jeep looking tires, and art deco shaped pieces of metal. The area was known as a resort area back in the day so there’s lot of remants of the times when this area really prospered. In the late 1920s there were some catastrophic floods that wiped out a lot of industry, so it’s common to also find the remains of that. This area made everything from laboratory glassware to golf club handles, so sometimes you can find pieces of that. At one time there was a bounty on returning this stuff, though that ended in the 1930s. So there’s some fun history for you all. Since this is a marble forum, I’ll share some fun old marble lore. The old story goes that when dredging on the Tennessee River they found tons of clay marbles and then sold then at various tourist spots. People often show me these Clay marbles and I have a few from when I was a kid. It’s not a true story, but the old timers still talk about the Tennessee marbles. Actual civil war marbles are found sometimes though not often. Most “dug” marbles end up being something some poor kid lost in the 50s.

Did some rock hunting before work today along the Tennessee River. I decided to head up to the Ozone falls area and Mt. Washington to look at the geology and views. Ozone falls is all sandstone (but not crab orchard sandstone). This will help show why the geology here is so tricky. In the photos I’m up on the Cumberland plateau (Walden’s ridge) looking down over the Tennessee Valley. Way off in the distance you can see the Smokey Mountains. Water-wise you can see the Emory, Clinch, and Tennessee rivers while off to the right you can seen the Watts Bar reservoir. Lots and lots of geology to cover. I found some very weird things today and cutting them is the only way to know if they’re any good.