Making Rolley Hole marbles this year

[RolleyHoleMan]

Hey all, I had a thread about making my first marble a few months ago. My seasonal job ends here October 31st so it’ll be the end of the line for me making marbles until I get my own setup going. I have some belt driven bench grinders ready (need wheels) , a couple electric motors, and a Brigs and Stratton WMB washing machine gas engine for this setup. 
 

I have made around 40 marbles now, though it’s hard to keep up. It’s taken a lot of trial and error plus time cutting material to really get into it, but here’s some photos. Many marbles I kept on making even though they really aren’t the best for game play, which includes materials with cracks, sand pits, etc. When learning and also finding/cutting your own material it can be difficult to always get and use the best. In my collection of material I do have a quite a few very good looking cubes though it’ll be a long time until I can get to them, and that’s if I keep up with marble making. 

Back home the geology is also not the best for this however I have a property full of Tennessee Agate, but that’s an awful material for Rolley Hole. It makes a pretty (but soft) marble though. 
 

Enjoy! 

[RolleyHoleMan]

For those who may have missed it, I make marbles for the game of "Rolley Hole" . I have a few threads floating around here about me going on and on about Rolley Hole that may be found by searching the forum. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

Here's another update. I have been working on making my own setup for marble making, and have built a very chaotic setup that makes rocks tremble in fear. 

 

The setup is not complete and has its quirks and bugs. I have two bench grinder arbors on this setup, one has a 60 grit diamond wheel which eats rocks (hopefully it holds up since it is a cheap wheel), and the other grinder has a rubber wheel, ping pong table wheel (both for spinning marbles), and a stone wheel I don't know much about, but due to its low rate of cutting it does just fine for the nice little touchup work needed on some marbles while spinning them. 

Now where things get fun... This is a belt drive setup. I could have gotten an electric bench grinder and called it good, but what's the fun in that? 

When poking around one of my favorite junk shops I've gone to since I was a kid, I noticed a funky little engine sitting on the floor under a shelf, covered in dust. I picked it up as the elderly owner watched me, and he said "Son do you know what that is?". I told him I thought it was a washing machine engine (which it was). Because I knew what it was, I got it for $20.00. So what use is an engine if you have nothing to do with it? I see these online all the times and the demo videos are basically "here is my engine, it is mounted to a board. Here it is running. Thanks for watching!". That won't do. 

 

So I got to planning and building. This engine spins my grinders at around 2000 RPM, and I can speed it up to 2800 or so. Whatever RPM the motor was set at was not full throttle, but way too fast. 

 

So using this setup I made a marble in around 30 minutes. Usually this takes me many hours. So here is a video of the chaotic setup. The electric motor in the setup is an old washing machine motor (as is tradition), and it is mostly used as an axle. It can spin the one grinder but not very fast. The gas engine is a 1948 Briggs and Stratton WMB, cast iron grinder is a "CS" grinder (maybe craftsman sears?), the smaller grinder is a Millers Falls (I think), and the belts are a combo of Volvo alternator belts and lawn mower belts. I need to get these belts to flop less but overall it's a fun setup. Enjoy!  

 

 

[Steph]

❤️ 

I would love to have one of your marbles.  Or two?

Let me know if you have any leftover beyond what you're hoping to provide in other venues.

[RolleyHoleMan]

3 hours ago, Steph said:

❤️ 

I would love to have one of your marbles.  Or two?

Let me know if you have any leftover beyond what you're hoping to provide in other venues.

What kind of marble are you looking for (size, finish, material)? I have a lot of cubes but many are a bit odd compared to the plain solid white many people play with. All my material is at home so I don't know what all I have at the moment. 

When it comes to making marbles, I have not sold one yet. I made a few as gifts for locals who have done a lot for the game. I made one for Bobby Fulcher, the father of the tournament (for his retirement) for example, but have not had a marble used for the tournament yet. I don't have the standard white material most marbles are, but have found material that was used to make marbles that were used in the tournament this year. 

Selling marbles is a new territory for me and I would like to do the craft justice, so I always have worries there. I was refusing to sell them local since I'm not local and didn't think it was right for some guy from East TN to pop into the area and suddenly become competition, but online it's a new territory, especially since now I'm off finding my own material away from the park. 

 

If you're interested send me a message and when I get back home I'll wet up some materials and send some photos. I have a decent mix of materials but some I will have to look at. Without a proper saw I have some odd cuts that may need some extra love. 

 

If anyone else is after a marble let me know and I'll see what I can do. Time is a bit limited but if my rig holds up, I would like to make a couple of marbles a day. 

[Royal3]

Those look absolutely perfect, I can almost feel their smooth heft in my fingers. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

Been working on some marbles today. A lot of them ended up a bit smaller than I’d like. Another issue is how the material is always unpredictable. I have some classic faults like mineral deposits and fissures, which is unfortunate. 
 

If I get around to making an Etsy shop for selling marbles, I may divide them up as art and playing marbles. Marbles free of cracks will be playing marbles. 
 

If anyone is interested in a marble send me a message and let me know your thoughts. I don’t have the assortment of colors some are after, especially when it comes to butter scotch/ brown. But there’s going to be some good shooting marbles if my setup behaves. 
 

My setup is, well, interesting to say the least. It’s a lot like driving an old car. It may get you where you need to go, but it’ll be sketchy and wild. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

[RolleyHoleMan]

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. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

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. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

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. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

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. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

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. 

[schmoozer]

1 hour ago, RolleyHoleMan said:

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. 

Practice makes perfect! Keep us updated!

 

[B-rett66]

Rolleyholeman, 

 That is awesome. One of my other hobbies is flint knapping. Occasionally I have stone that I cannot use so I’ve started to round them over to make marbles. Here is one made of Buffalo River chert. The arrow head  is made from the same rock. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

2 hours ago, B-rett66 said:

Rolleyholeman, 

 That is awesome. One of my other hobbies is flint knapping. Occasionally I have stone that I cannot use so I’ve started to round them over to make marbles. Here is one made of Buffalo River chert. The arrow head  is made from the same rock. 

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. 

[Steph]

Feel free to link to your auction(s).  

[Steph]

.... and I can hardly wait for mine to arrive.  Oh, I think it might already be at the post office .... 

 

*heading to town now*

[B-rett66]

  I don’t look for artifacts much. I’ve been making them for more years than I want to tell. The Rolley hole marbles have really struck an interest in me. I have a bunch of stone that will not be good for projectile points but are big enough to make a marble. 

[Steph]

Excited.  This is going to make a special display.  Got a  variety of marbles and materials here.  Will have to type up notes to accompany. 

Yes, I want to go to Rolley Hole sometime!  In March I will be making my first out-of-state trip in many years.  I'm looking forward to doing more.  Rolley Hole is on the list. 

Not a lot of light left in the day, but I couldn't wait to take a picture.  Came out pretty nice.

[RolleyHoleMan]

41 minutes ago, B-rett66 said:

  I don’t look for artifacts much. I’ve been making them for more years than I want to tell. The Rolley hole marbles have really struck an interest in me. I have a bunch of stone that will not be good for projectile points but are big enough to make a marble. 

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. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

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. 

[B-rett66]

I buy or trade for my knapping materials

[Djp5690]

They look amazing!!  I’d take a link to that auction as well. When u was a kid, I found a couple of pretty good size chunks of gneiss or schist ( I don’t know my rocks as well as I should (for Shame, for shame!) just loaded with garnet. What hardness are the rocks you’ve been using?

[RolleyHoleMan]

4 hours ago, Djp5690 said:

They look amazing!!  I’d take a link to that auction as well. When u was a kid, I found a couple of pretty good size chunks of gneiss or schist ( I don’t know my rocks as well as I should (for Shame, for shame!) just loaded with garnet. What hardness are the rocks you’ve been using?

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.