Until quite recently I used only the " mean green " ten inch blade on my tile saw for cutting preforms. They are fine blades and were cheap.Kingsley north has HSP blades which are inexpensive and seem fine to me. Neither of these blades is slab saw quality but as trim sw blades they are fine . The Highland Park green blade is not the mean green blade.Please educate us on your method of marble preforming please. I used to spin them on a piece of pipe and a grinding wheel as was standard 50 years ago but maybe you have some new ideas. Good luck.
Thank you for your suggestions. I’ll look into them tomorrow when I have the usual down time at work.
As for my making of marbles, I use only the methods common in the area of Clay and Overton County Tennessee, and Monroe County Kentucky. These areas are the heart of marble country where the game of “Rolley Hole” is still a regional pastime.
I learned marble making from those who learned it from Bud Garret, a locally famous blues musician, marble maker, and marble player. Back in the 1940s or so, Bud was making marbles using what I’ve heard called a “marble machine”. I have seen photos of him holding various contraptions but have gotten no description as to what they were or what they did.
Before Bud, locals were knapping spheres and placing them in holes in streams or mobile grinding stones which were placed under waterfalls. Bud Changed all that.
What Bud had, and what I recreated, was simply a belt drive bench grinder powered by a washing machine electric motor. I personally have a a setup with two belt grinders powered by a General Electric washing machine motor, and for fun this setup is also powered by a Brigs and Stratton WMB washing machine gas engine.
I start by finding my material in the local streams, and I cut it into cubes using at first a tile saw, and now this proper saw. Each cube I want to be around 1sq”. From there I grind this cube into a cylinder using a 60 grit diamond wheel (in need of replacing). With the cylinder I then cone off the top and bottom to make it more and more marble shaped. If all goes well I can have a marble in an hour. What takes time is spinning it to size and spec. Some guys are very hardcore about this, others just spin it until it looks round and then call it quits. Some makers leave blemishes and pits, while others toss these marbles aside as junk. Marble making has gotten more and more refined and precise.
You can also grind the cube by rounding off the corners and shaping it that way, but I’ve lost the ability to do this timely and need to be retaught.
Anyways, when I have my rough sphere I spin it in various cups I’ve made from either old grinding wheels or diamond blade dressing sticks (the best option). I spin these using a rubber wheel and touch up the marble with a grinding wheel as needed. Most marbles I make will be around .75-.85 depending on what I’m feeling like. If my material isn’t the best for shooting but is pretty, I’ll leave the marble bigger (for the tourists and non players to buy). If a marble is good for play I’ll make it a proper size, or leave it at around .80 so if anyone wants it, I can make it to the size they want. Finish varies on the player and what they want, but for slick marbles I spin them in the granite polishing pads found on eBay.
I have sold a good bit of marbles, but I only sell them to offset the cost of buying tools. I’ve given a lot of marbles away as well.
To us out here, it’s more than a game. It’s a craft and a tradition, and we love a good clean game of marbles on the Rolley Hole Yard.
It’s one of those things that just has to be experienced. I frequently talk about my work in Rolley Hole on job interviews and people usually don’t care much for it, and at most state parks people will know me as “the marble guy”. So I’ll hold back from going on and on.
If you or anyone want to really get into learning about Rolley Hole, I have some very in-depth threads about gameplay and marble making on a forum called “the marble connection”. There’s also a video playlist on YouTube that i put together with old news coverage, marble making videos (by others), etc.
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Topic: First saw (Highland Park E2 I think). (Read 734 times)