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Old German Sent To Rehab


MyMarbleBuddy

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It was about 1 1/2 " when he started...but I don't have an exact measurement. It appears to have lost just more than 1/8 " ...again, rough measurement. Leroy, do you have actual measurements?

Re: cost ... I was surprised at how reasonable his prices are, but anyone can contact Leroy himself if they want more information on the specific size marble they need to have restored.

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Hi all. Long time since I posted, but I just came back to say I can vouch for Leroy's superb work...I sent mine all the way from England to have them rehab'd by him & I loved all of them all over again!

All the best

And PS, nice marble MyMarbleBuddy!

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  • 9 months later...

That restoration is nice.

I also restore marbles but I don't use the grinding technique.

I use my torch to make the repair.

I feel the grinding takes too much glass from the original marble but that's just my opinion.

In these two pictures of the same repaired marble, I was asked to leave the original pontil marks at both ends.

I am sorry, I forgot to take the before repair picture, but, you can see how cloudy the marble used to be if you look close at the pontils.

I am wondering if one uses the grinding technique, do the pontils change too and get removed?

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Hi Rich. It's possible no one noticed your question on the 6th. With this thread being tucked away in the Restoration forum and all.

I've moved it over to the main chat now. Maybe the right eyes will see it here. If not, a new thread could help. Someone should have an answer! :-)

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As I've worked my way down the thread I've been wondering what the pontils looked like in the three pics because they show everything but the pontils. On these old German swirls the pontils are integral to the integrity of the marble and if they are appreciable opened it is quite distracting. Would be nice to see a cpl. dead-on photographs of the pontils. David

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I know that sometimes pontils are left on.

I don't know a lot. But I'm sure that sometimes they are.

If I recall correctly discussions about whether pontils are left on seem to boil down to (1) how deep the damage is and (2) client preference.

It's been discussed several times in the years I've been reading but I've been way back on the sidelines so I remember a lot about it. Maybe P.M. or email Leroy if he doesn't drop in soon to comment.

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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----

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Doh! I knew that!

But I also thought I had heard about people being able to save the pontils during grinding.

I've heard of people hand polishing marbles. That could save pontils, right?, but it sounds like lots of work.

Is there some way to machine grind but not make it all automatic?

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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----

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  • 1 month later...

Leroy, you know what might be cool to try....

You know when a marble has the glass too close to the surface to torch it clean and you know when there is a deep chip or deep nip in the surface of a marble?

I think me torching the deep places back to smooth and you then polishing it to remove the whitish residue from the distressed glass would work out to be a quite nice looking marble.

What do you think - want to try one and see?

PM me and let me know.

Thanks

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Here is what I am talking about. This marble has the color swirls too close to the surface for me to attempt picking out the whitish scars from the big chips and dents that it started with BUT as you can see, I melted it pretty smooth. The next step would be polishing it to remove the white areas but not eat up too much glass.

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Rich did you know breaking off the cloudy glass before re-melting eliminates the spit looking scum when finished?

Rich, Grandpa alway said, "Anything worth doing, is worth doing well."

Steph, Grandma always said, "Words are like feathers, once they're out you can never get them back in."

Something in my own nature does not always alow me to remember that one!!!

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Please explain how one "breaks off the cloudy glass" actually is done?????

Do you sand it with wet/dry fine or extra fine sandpaper?

Is there a chemical solution it sits in?

This marble was almost totally covered with white spots, so much so, you couldn't tell what was inside!

There also was 2 major spots that had big pieces of clear glass gone so much as to almost allow the lutz to be touched.

I tried my best with the experience I have and am eager to learn more - thanks!!!

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