RolleyHoleMan

Doing some organizing and rounded up some marbles for a photo. These are all pieces (I think) of a quartz nodule that one of the marble makers here said was no good. The section he cut into had a small sand pit but when I had a wack at it, the rest of the material was pretty great. This particular nodule did have a sandy exterior which is usually a thing to be worried about. You want a nice smooth exterior, with brown being the best crust to look for. Sand on the outside means sand on the inside. The photo of the marble and the cube is from a piece of material one of the locals found. He had someone cut it up and was told it was no good. It’s an odd color and the laser doesn’t shoot through it like other material, but it seems just fine.

Here is two more marbles. The butterscotch one is from a piece of material that came from Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The smaller piece I believe came from Byrdstown but I can’t recall.

Just a few more marble pictures! My gas engine again is giving me trouble so I have only been able to make one new sphere which I haven’t gotten to get. I removed the carb and cleaned it, and also messed with the governor assembly on the motor. I sure hate the idea of replacing the engine with an electric motor, but for reliability I might have to. I’m against letting gas engines sit but this one has been fighting me a good bit and may have to be stored away for a while. Anyways, I will probably not do any marble work tomorrow. I’ve got a job interview Thursday and need to keep my hands more clean. Spinning marbles is tough on the hands and I ended up wearing my thumb down to where I can’t really use it for marbles.

Today my marble machine broke down again so I took apart the gasoline engine and at least cleaned it out, plus gave it an oil change. The oil was dark black which sure isn’t good, and the inlet valve sure needs lapped I think. Today I went about 15 miles away and started finding some pretty cool material. If I had a saw I sure could make some pretty marbles, but some of the material I don’t know how well it would hold up. Seems the quartz here is more grainy with a sandy texture. What I I did find was some wonderful small butterscotch. It’s all cracked up, but I might make a cracked marble out of it. Regardless it gives me some hope when it comes to finding material out this way.

Here’s a marble I’ve been working on. With this particular material I only have 2 cubes since it was a small nodule and the guy who cut it for me (as per our deal) got half of it. I was really surprised it even made 4 cubes due to the tiny size. For a while I had a big shelf of rocks at the park and a couple marble makers would go through it and pick what should be tried. It helped me learn what was good and how most of what I grabbed wasn’t ideal. Anyways the cube is amazingly pretty and the marbles I saw made with it were very nice as well. I’ll have to dig for a photo of those. One of the marbles made with it was the marble used to win Rolley Hole this year which is pretty cool, so it’s top notch material. I’m going to keep one of the marbles made from it, and haven’t cut on the other cube yet. It’s a hard thing to do because it’s an awesome educational tool to have a cube and a marble made from that cube. Sizing is also difficult since I can’t decide what size to make it. I have it at .80 on the dot. I was kinda thinking .78 but man having a .80 on the dot is also pretty cool. All the way around with some high end calipers it’s .80 all the way. Figured I’d share it. I was working on another marble that had shallow cracks in it, and I was removing those cracks (or so it seems), and it launched from my hands and after an hour or so of looking for it in the garage it hasn’t turned up. It’s the second marble that’s been lost this way and it’s kinda a pain because for demonstration you can’t keep launching marbles all over the place.

I'm starting to move my marbles to Etsy and will be lowering prices a bit. It just takes a bunch of time and I must admit, I'm not very motivated on it. My etsy: https://vintagetsp.etsy.com Maybe one day I'll get to sell marbles at Rolley Hole. That may be the best way to go. With the online stuff I miss the idea of getting to talk about Rolley Hole because I'm more into wanting to spread the game than make some dollars.

One thing I'm noting is I have gotten quite a few messages from people on eBay asking for multiple marbles, or specific marbles, or specific colors. No one ever follows up with me. Kinda annoying. Since eBay sales are slow/poor in regards to all my junk on there, I do get excited when I hear a notification. Kinda annoying. I do like how I haven't gotten any lowball offers though. I mean my marbles are priced high to see what will happen, but I haven't gotten the usual online nonsense with these.

Been having some fun today. I got in my new grinding sticks and they really do great. Still takes a while to make a marble but I’m unfortunately starting with some big spheres. Seems I need to do better on that. Anyways the marble I finished is one sneaky marble. The entire time when making it it looked like a normal white/yellow marble. Every time I look at it or move it, it seems to change color. It’s hard to think of letting go of some of the real nice shooting marbles. Mostly because material is tight.

Hiding your marble is why a lot of guys really look for the brown and butterscotch marbles, but it sure makes it hard to find your own marble. Earlier this year a park guest found a dark brown marble out on the yard ( I think my boss let them keep it ). I was all over that yard and never noticed it. I've almost lost a couple marbles on the yard myself and keep finding myself walking all over the yard since I'm a marble short, so I practice with a set number of marbles to make sure I gather them all up. Darker marbles are also more likely to be stepped on or accidentally kicked as well.

Here’s some fun material I made a marble out of. This stuff is super clear and was found in Byrdstown , TN. Byrdstown has a lot of nodules which are very clear, usually with a grey, white, black, or brown color. I’m not the best at explaining it, but this material looks like glass, or like candy. In the area I was looking, I saw a lot of smaller pieces of this stuff all with clear issues like faults and sand, but might as well see what it makes. The other marble I made is from material I found. All that was written in it was the date of 10/23/23, so I guess that’s when it was cut. This is from some of the last material I picked up, and it sure made a nice marble. The marble may get cut down a little since it’s .80, but it’s hard to decide. It’ll be a good teaching marble. Another side note on these, but more clear quartz is pretty cool for being tricky on the yard. It just blends in like it isn’t even there. They say a brown marble is tricky, but this can even fool people when playing British Marbles.

Here are links to the marbles. I'm still working on more and trying to gauge interest. Seems like I'm sure not getting the views. Orangeish marble: https://www.ebay.com/itm/266528611775?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ruxIi_EfR8G&sssrc=2524149&ssuid=ruxIi_EfR8G&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY White marble: https://www.ebay.com/itm/266532476496?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ruxIi_EfR8G&sssrc=2524149&ssuid=ruxIi_EfR8G&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Yellow almost butterscotch. This is a very hard to find material and color: https://www.ebay.com/itm/266532490073?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ruxIi_EfR8G&sssrc=2524149&ssuid=ruxIi_EfR8G&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Brown marble with faults: https://www.ebay.com/itm/266532581383?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ruxIi_EfR8G&sssrc=2524149&ssuid=ruxIi_EfR8G&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY I'll leave them up and see what happens. I have 5 more marbles in various stages. I have 4 which look like they'll be fine shooting marbles, with the 5th having a crack. If my new grinding sticks work well and I can speed up the process I will make cheaper marbles. Currently I'm picking my nicer material.

Also I just ordered some new grinding blocks, though I took a risk with a cheaper website that may be a little sketchy, but reviews seem to be good. I have another site lined up where I also plan to order from. Cost sure does add up quick unfortunately which is the main reason for selling marbles. That plus not having a job is a bit of a pain there, though living with my folks again I don't have the expenses I once had. Sometime in the next few days I have to get back on moving junk out of my apartment so I will be away from marble making for a few days most likely, but before then I want to get some marbles listed to at least have them out there.

Another thing I'm torn on is I really like making marbles to-order so someone gets a marble I chose from a cube from start to finish. With some people I can make them exactly what they want size and finish-wise. It really depends on what their plans are for the marble. A player would want a specific size while a collector may be more interested in just having a cool looking marble with no worries about the size. When I loan marbles, people will often miss a shot and tell me it's because it's not their marble. This can be because of size, finish, or both.

Here's the one marble I have posted. I think I have 3 others to get around to posting. Plus I think 3 more to finish. I have one that's a true shooting marble, and a couple that are more decorative. There's also one that is what I would say "used" to be an acceptable marble. That particular marble is the true white marble players love, but it has crystal "geode" pits, so some players wouldn't want to play with it. Those areas I think are softer, but some swear that the little open pits will cause drag and reduce accuracy. https://www.ebay.com/itm/266528611775?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ruxIi_EfR8G&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=ruxIi_EfR8G&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

I'm going to start adding links as I get more into it. I have one link I'll share which has 2 watchers so far. I'm very new to the world of selling marbles and wasn't too sure what to ask. i got advice from someone else who has sold in the past and he said price it high, and if someone buys it, great! If not, you still got a pretty marble. When working Rolley Hole I couldn't gauge the proper price of a marble. One table was filled with $50 marbles and he sold a good bit. Another table had a bunch of $25 marbles which looked and seemed just like the $50 ones. Another guy had a $10.00 section but those I could usually see what was up with them. My marbles were liked by all the makers but I've found some really deseriable materials that had the makers going wild. They say like a true maker, I don't know where my material came from, which was true. When I started out, I was picking up everything. The really nice pieces I sure wish I knew where I got them. The hardness of materials we use is around a 6.5-7 on the Mohs hardness scale, or so I've been told.

Seems my mobile browser is freaking out. Everything is bouncing around so I’m having a hard time keeping up. Steph I’m glad you got your marbles! I forgot to tell you but sometimes I put oil or furniture polish on rough cut cubes to make them good for display. I haven’t found something that lasts very long though.

Did you go to the Buffalo river area to find the chert? Also did you ever cut those pieces from me? I bet some of them would be good. It’s always a pain to tell.

Man that’s awesome! Did you head that way and go rock hunting? I’ve really considered going out there but have been looking around here first. locally, no luck. It seems down in the valley the material is soft, layered, or both. So it explodes. Im about to head to Crossville and poke around there for some rocks.

I also seem to have hit a roadblock getting material cut which is an issue. I sure have some nice material to try, and some more questionable material. I have a decent amount of material to go through still. I think I may focus on using the diamond wheel to grind some rough spheres for spinning, then go from there. Currently my only grinding cups are made from an old grinding wheel that doesn't do all that well. I have considered cannibalizing a wheel I have on my grinder to use for this.

For those interested, I did list a single marble on eBay, and I made another today. Seems I don't have enough posts to have access to the "for sale" section on here. Kinda surprising with all the talk I do about Rolley Hole. Unfortunately I don't have any Rolley Hole news or new info to share with me not working there anymore plus it being the cold off-season. Regardless I sure can't wait for the next Rolley Hole. I used the last of my main grinding cups and need to order replacements so marble making may be slow or not at all for a while.

Forgot to get back to you on this. I actually don't have any rules for Tennessee Square and have found no info on how to play. Do you have anything? I have been a bit caught up with making marbles lately and haven't played any marbles in a long time. Sometimes I get down and shoot some but not often. "Schoolyard" is a general term we use around these parts to vaguely describe games commonly played by kids back in the day. Usually when we play this, it is an overflow from too many people showing up for ringer, or we have people who are frustrated by not having any luck in ringer. Basically all we do is have a small dirt circle with marbles tossed in the center, and we let people try to shoot those out of the circle. Usually people respond pretty well to it and if they get their confidence up, they'll move on over to ringer again.

Another thing to note, but everyone needs to come out to Rolley Hole to really see the beauty of a marble. My camera on my phone can only do so much. It just can’t capture the intricate faults and layers a marble has. There’s some marbles I send a photo of and the photo just doesn’t do it. You can’t see the layers and the glass looking shell that seems to hold everything inside. it’s a lot like resin art. You really have to get in there and look deeply into it. At the same time I make marbles with little transparency so you can’t see much. Lots of white marbles are like this. You may see some interesting changes in coloration but you sure can’t look into it like these more transparent materials.

Here’s some more marbles. I have some coming up that may be a bit better for play, but these sure are pretty. Most makers won’t carry on unless a marble is a sure thing, but since I’m limited on material and don’t have a saw, I work with what I have. what I really need is a better way to spin a marble. I need to check out the local hardware store for some ideas for this, like rubber lawnmower wheels which are a little hard to find. Hard plastic you can find all day long.

Still working on lots of marbles! I will be taking a little break soon as I work on moving out plus trying to find a job. My setup for marble making sure is wild and breaks down a bit, so I need to start looking at a redesign for reliability. Let's just say if anyone wants to get into marble making but wants less headaches, just get an electric bench grinder and mount your wheels to that. Doing it my way is a bit wild and rough so it's not for the faint of heart. On average my setup breaks down and needs shut off at least 2 times a session. I get a little lost when making a marble so a session sometimes is a few hours. Another issue is noise. My little motor sure is loud. I know of some ways to quiet it down but there's always the mechanical noise. This has me planning better ways to power the setup but still keep the gas engine for fun.