Making my first flint marble for Rolley Hole

[RolleyHoleMan]

Hey all, thought I’d share this. I’m by no means an expert and this project took around 14 hours since I struggled at it a little and had some difficulty getting this marble down to size.

For those who do not know, I am from Standing Stone State Park, home of the national Rolley Hole Championship. I teach this game and lately most days someone comes seeking it out. I have taught many people how to play along with the local significance of the game, but what I have not done until recently is actually make a marble. During this process I gave many people a taste of the process but due to the time, many only got bits and pieces.

This particular marble is made from (according to the bag of raw material) Tennessee quartz. This is locally referred to as “flint” but I believe it is a type of churt. Due to how Rolley Hole is played, glass marbles won’t do and are easily broken due to their hardness. This material better survives the impact and generally rough gameplay by being a little softer and less brittle. 
 

We start with locally found materials that is then cut into blocks. From there we grind the edges and then grind the new edges until getting a cylinder roughly, then grind the tops to a taper. From there the rough orb is put into cups made of old grinding wheels and sharpening stones and spun with a rubber wheel. This can be dangerous a personally I ended up dotting my marble with blood from hitting my fingers on the wheel. 
 

Theres YouTube videos that better describe  the process, but it truly is a labor of love. Most of the marbles makers where or are Rolley Hole players which adds the personal touch. 
 

many of my files are failing to upload, but hopefully this gives an idea. The best way to see this process is by attending the 40th Rolley Hole September 16th. 
 

I hope y’all enjoy!

[RolleyHoleMan]

[Chad G.]

13 minutes ago, RolleyHoleMan said:

IMG_5085.MOV IMG_5061.MOV

Nice job Chris    

[I'llhavethat1]

Neat!

[RolleyHoleMan]

Today I got the process down very well and made a marble in just a couple hours. I did not time how long it took as I did some small bursts throughout the day. 
 

This marble is made from “buffalo river TN churt” according to the bag. This material is from a good ways away from the land of Rolley Hole but it is a material type I am familiar with. 
 

The color is meant to blend in with the Rolley Hole yard and it supposed to make your marble harder to aim for. Since this game is played by older guys mostly it does do its job when compared to the white marbles you see. White marbles are considered “cheaper” and less thrills. Regardless that doesn’t amount to much since some of the best will massacre opponents with a white marble. 
 

Its an oddly therapeutic craft. Many players in their retirement have made marbles to stay in the game in a way. Some players just can’t shoot anymore or get up and down to make shots, but they’ll craft a marble that’ll last generations. 
 

As for making more marbles, I’m not sure as there’s not much materials and many pieces I have aren’t suitable. We can make these pieces into marbles, but they have fault lines that would increase the chances of chipping and breaking. Many of the marbles we sell to guests are like this, though we make sure they know that. Many want a little souvenir and there’s nothing like a Tennessee flint marble. 
 

I have likely said it before, but many players have marbles that are passed down through generations. It’s not uncommon to have a marble played with by your grandfather who was given to him by his grandfather and so on. Many people here have these marbles still tucked away though no one in their family has played for years. 

[Fire1981]

Would you consider making one on commission 🔥

RAR

[RolleyHoleMan]

Just now, Fire1981 said:

Would you consider making one on commission 🔥

RAR

I would have to ask my boss about this. If this is a possibility, it would have to be done through the office of Standing Stone State Park as I am using state tools, materials, and time. 

We have been flat out of marbles for a while and the maker we have  has not restocked us yet. There's a lot of state and government things going on but I will ask my boss and report back.

I myself am not a marbles maker, just a guy who loves teaching people about Rolley Hole. The best but hardest way for many to get a marble is to come out to the championship or any other marbles demonstration which I know for many would be expensive and impossible. 

[Chad G.]

12 hours ago, Fire1981 said:

Would you consider making one on commission 🔥

RAR

Matthew will, he does it for a living.

ROLEY HOLE FLINTS ( CHERT) LINK ::  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqlAqqIRlbM

MATTHEWS YOUTUBE VID HOME SITE LINK ::  https://www.youtube.com/@MarbleGems/videos

 

 

[Fire1981]

Boo Yah !!! Thanks Chad 🔥

RAR

[Steph]

On 6/23/2023 at 12:16 AM, RolleyHoleMan said:

Hey all, thought I’d share this. I’m by no means an expert and this project took around 14 hours since I struggled at it a little and had some difficulty getting this marble down to size.

For those who do not know, I am from Standing Stone State Park, home of the national Rolley Hole Championship. I teach this game and lately most days someone comes seeking it out. I have taught many people how to play along with the local significance of the game, but what I have not done until recently is actually make a marble. During this process I gave many people a taste of the process but due to the time, many only got bits and pieces.

This particular marble is made from (according to the bag of raw material) Tennessee quartz. This is locally referred to as “flint” but I believe it is a type of churt. Due to how Rolley Hole is played, glass marbles won’t do and are easily broken due to their hardness. This material better survives the impact and generally rough gameplay by being a little softer and less brittle. 
 

We start with locally found materials that is then cut into blocks. From there we grind the edges and then grind the new edges until getting a cylinder roughly, then grind the tops to a taper. From there the rough orb is put into cups made of old grinding wheels and sharpening stones and spun with a rubber wheel. This can be dangerous a personally I ended up dotting my marble with blood from hitting my fingers on the wheel. 
 

Theres YouTube videos that better describe  the process, but it truly is a labor of love. Most of the marbles makers where or are Rolley Hole players which adds the personal touch. 
 

many of my files are failing to upload, but hopefully this gives an idea. The best way to see this process is by attending the 40th Rolley Hole September 16th. 
 

I hope y’all enjoy!

Love!

How awesome that you're doing this.  

How satisfying that must be. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

13 hours ago, Chad G. said:

Matthew will, he does it for a living.

ROLEY HOLE FLINTS ( CHERT) LINK ::  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqlAqqIRlbM

MATTHEWS YOUTUBE VID HOME SITE LINK ::  https://www.youtube.com/@MarbleGems/videos

 

 

Matthew's videos are actually what I used to learn how to make marbles. I have seen some live demos but his videos were my main source. I was going to ask him if he sells raw materials but got the idea of making a marble from material found in the park.

I may be weird, but I want to make a 100% Standing Stone marble right in the home of Rolley Hole. I mostly need someone who can cut the material into cubes for me but there's some locals who might be able to do that. This park was built (like many parks) with local materials. The materials for our original structures have a lot of American Chestnut cut and milled here in the park, and all stones from the guard rails on the road to the stones cladding the dam are all local. It kinda adds to the park theme. 

 

Matthew does great work but I'd love to provide a locally made marble straight from the source. That sure would be cool. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

As a general update, I did talk to my boss some about the idea of making marbles. He was more caught up on the lack of materials than anything. It isn't hard to find the materials, but is hard to get it cut into cubes. I have considered knapping the material as was the original process. 

The original process was find material, knapp it into shape, then place the marble in a hole in a stream or under a waterfall where it can spin and be worn down. This process can take years though. Some people would take a portable hole made of sandstone and place it under a water source to spin their marbles, and one of these portables is at the Museum of Appalachia in East Tennessee. I have not seen one in person yet. They also used bow drills and the Cherokee used a split stick with the marble inserted in the end, then deer tendon would be wrapped around to tighten the stick around the marble for it to be ground on a rock. This is for larger marbles of course, about the size of billiard balls.  

My boss is supposed to give me some contact info for a couple local marbles makers which I can share. He said that would probably be done through Facebook. 

He will also reach out to the marbles maker who supplies the gift shop for some more to be sold there. I did talk to him again about the possibility of shipping marbles but he said I would have to ask someone in the office about that, and they were not working today so I was not able to ask. But I did not get a solid "no". 

[RolleyHoleMan]

Another thing I have considered for fun is trying to buy some of those decorative orbs from China made of different materials to see what I can whittle down. I looked up their Agate orbs and to my surprise there was a lot about the size of Rolley Hole marbles already. I used to work in a record shop that also sold crystals and the like, so I'm familiar with orbs made of Agate, Jasper, and quartz. 

The idea came from seeing a cut up piece of material that was once a decorative egg. I couldn't get a lot of info about what quality of marble this makes, but have heard about them making marbles from this type of stuff along with pieces of granite and similar from counter top installs. 

 

My main thing though is I have never seen anyone play with these marbles. I have a Dalmatian Jasper marble I use for programming and with my skill it does fine, but in the hands of a true shooter I don't know about durability. 

 

When teaching Rolley Hole, my students do not have a marble themselves and do not have the personal connection. Players will learn their marble and can pick it out from a group of seemingly identical marbles. So when I teach people, I use one purplish Agate that has been polished, one Dalmatian, one white flint, and one yellowish/white flint.

 

With Georgia Rolley Hole it can get chaotic with 10 or so people playing, so I break into the stash of "forbidden marbles" which are glass marbles with odds and ends printed on them that either have defects, or unusual subject matter that either doesn't sell, or would be questionable to sell. Stuff like marbles with United Nations, Scudbuster missiles, 9/11, weird unknown cartoon characters, etc. This way everyone can usually have a different color, and if duplicate colors are used we can have different prints. 

My favorite is a marble that says "Shoot marbles, not drugs" .  

[RolleyHoleMan]

Here’s another update from todays work. 
 

Over the last few days I have been in the waterways at the park hunting for flint, and found some very promising pieces that will need to be cut. I did find one piece small enough to chip away at, then make into a marble. 
 

This is the first of hopefully many true Standing Stone Marbles. I have been told the darker flint is less sought after because it is harder and breaks easily, but got more clarity on dark flint today from a marbles maker. He said that you do have to be careful because the flint will have more sand in it. It also has more organic matter. Because of this you may be grinding a marble and POP a big piece has come off because of a pocket of sand. I had this happen early on but whittled it down to what seems like a suitable piece. It does have some worry spots but since I’m not a powerful shot, it shouldn’t be a problem. 
 

The main reason darker flint is not used is because… it’s common. That’s right. Common. I found a lot of it. The players want the harder to find stuff because it makes a prettier marble, or a marble that blends with the yard. You want white or butterscotch flint. The chert I used on a tan marble got the marble maker today excited and he approved of my marbles. 
 

Here’s some photos. 
 

I ended up slicking this marble up a little and plan to look into how to do this even better. 
 

Players like different things. Our hands are all different and size of the marble can vary. Some can’t shoot a bigger or larger marble. Some want more grit for control, and some like a slick marble that eases out of the hand. 
 

If anyone comes and meets any players, note their marbles. There will likely be a recurring theme. When a marble is lost it sometimes can be tracked back to who lost it by another skilled player. “That looks like something X would use” was something I was told at the last Rolley Hole when I handed a marble to the wrong player. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

Polishing a marble is something I hear different things on. What I’m going to try is steel wool. I’ve heard other similar things. 

[Steph]

8 hours ago, RolleyHoleMan said:

Here’s another update from todays work. 
 

Over the last few days I have been in the waterways at the park hunting for flint, and found some very promising pieces that will need to be cut. I did find one piece small enough to chip away at, then make into a marble. 
 

This is the first of hopefully many true Standing Stone Marbles. I have been told the darker flint is less sought after because it is harder and breaks easily, but got more clarity on dark flint today from a marbles maker. He said that you do have to be careful because the flint will have more sand in it. It also has more organic matter. Because of this you may be grinding a marble and POP a big piece has come off because of a pocket of sand. I had this happen early on but whittled it down to what seems like a suitable piece. It does have some worry spots but since I’m not a powerful shot, it shouldn’t be a problem. 
 

The main reason darker flint is not used is because… it’s common. That’s right. Common. I found a lot of it. The players want the harder to find stuff because it makes a prettier marble, or a marble that blends with the yard. You want white or butterscotch flint. The chert I used on a tan marble got the marble maker today excited and he approved of my marbles. 
 

Here’s some photos. 
 

I ended up slicking this marble up a little and plan to look into how to do this even better. 
 

Players like different things. Our hands are all different and size of the marble can vary. Some can’t shoot a bigger or larger marble. Some want more grit for control, and some like a slick marble that eases out of the hand. 
 

If anyone comes and meets any players, note their marbles. There will likely be a recurring theme. When a marble is lost it sometimes can be tracked back to who lost it by another skilled player. “That looks like something X would use” was something I was told at the last Rolley Hole when I handed a marble to the wrong player. 

Love it all.  Great information. Sweet marbles.  You are going to miss Standing Stone so much, aren't you.  I wish I could get out there to Rolley Hole.  Maybe some day.  Maybe you'll be there visiting.  Or retire there.

[RolleyHoleMan]

16 hours ago, Steph said:

Love it all.  Great information. Sweet marbles.  You are going to miss Standing Stone so much, aren't you.  I wish I could get out there to Rolley Hole.  Maybe some day.  Maybe you'll be there visiting.  Or retire there.

It truly is one of the best places Tennessee has to offer, and it has a great community centered around Rolley Hole. Every day lately we have been working hard in regards to Rolley Hole. 

Soon I will have to stop all Rolley Hole programs as we are about to do a hardcore renovation/repair of the marbles yard which I will update everyone on. I know some of the process for yard repair, but this will be a big undertaking with many people working on the yard. We will be adding a lot of material which is a process of adding, wetting the yard, and surfacing the yard. 

The biggest thing about yard work is that all players must be very very happy with what we do from surface to the dirt itself. People are very picky and for good reason. People are so picky that when we used chalk to mark holes, they said it messed up shots. The chalk interfered with how the marble left the hand, or so they say. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

Here are some more photos of marbles I’ve made and materials used. As of now I’ve made over 20 marbles and have learned quite a bit. I had some issues with cracking which have been resolved, but there’s always issues with the material sometimes not being the best. 
 

There will be live demonstrations September 16th at Standing Stone State Park, and live demonstrations September 30th at Cove Lake State Park.