I had collected a bnch of them a few years ago. I'll have to look around and see if I still have them. Pages and pages of marbles on the bay. -Pat
Well at 72 years old I remember the Marble games well; we played in the sandy streets next to the ditch. Those old Model A's would come up to the intersection and stop, maybe have one wheel that the brakes were working and that wheel would be locked up, sliding in the sand. Our marble bags were "Bull-Durham" tobacco sacks with the Yellow string. I still have several Bull Durham Sacks of Marbles as well as Prince Albert Tobacco Cans full but the cans are noisy, unless you keep em full! Guess I will be cutting open all my old spray cans, as I am hopeless Pack-Rat!
Triumphleroy, I recall those days very well, and the bull durham bags, as we could carry this in or pocket to school to play at noon. I keep all my old ones in an old gum ball penny machine. They look great in it and every one says something about them when they see it.
Marbles were the thing to do at lunchtime in the early/mid 60's at our grammar school, we'd dig a small shallow hole in the dirt playground, each kid would stand back 20 feet and toss ten marbles at the hole, the first one to side kick (kicking one foot with the other foot) all the marbles in the hole got to keep all the marbles, "keepsies", newbies were allowed to play for "funsies", for the first few times anyway. My grandmother made our marbles bags out of old felt rags. A lot of simple fun! But apparently marbles are now weapons and marble bags ammo bags... Sorry Ryan, I know not car related, just old car guy related.
I wonder what color marbles are in those .99 cent cans from Lowe's and Dollar General? I bet I find out before this day is over! We played a game with a circle and the object was to shoot the others guys marbles.Ones you shot out with your "shooter" you kept. Kinda foggy memory on all the terms nowadays, Agates, Taws?
OK, if I can crawl through pricker bushes and swamps when walking the dog to see a car or parts then opening cans to find marbles is not so bad..No wasps or Hornets for sure..Safer but could be colorful!!
Around here the "traditional"way is to shootem with your Daisy Red-Rider (B.b.gun+outside)then steal mom's can-opener an slicem open.
This thread is funny. My dad played marbles in the 1940's and 1950's. I now live in the house he grew up in. When I garden or dig in the flowerbeds I am constantly finding old, lost marbles. I collect them and when I see dad--he's 74 now--I give him back his marbles. I am finding out that I was right when as a teen I told my dad that he had lost all his marbles years ago, and now I have the proof every time I dig in the old yard!
That video was cool. One of my first jobs was doing that very thing , making marbles. Could be the same place in Parkersburg ,W Va. Can't imagine there would be a lot of those plants in operation.
I used a spare length of U-channel to cradle the can, then sharpened a fair-sized bolt and welded it to a piece of angle. The other end of the angle is then bolted to on end of the U-Channel, and a spring pulls the two together. Prop the angle iron up with a stick that has a string tied to it, place can in U-Channel making sure that the spike will penetrate it, walk a safe distance away and pull the string "smartly." Usually there is a pressure release, and sometimes a spray of color. One day, after puncturing a fairly full but non-functional can of white, my son and I went over to remove the can from the apparatus. I pulled the angle up which withdrew the spike, nothing happened, so my son grabbed the can. A half second later, the can sprayed his face and arm white, as well as one of my arms. Luckily he had his glasses on, but he wasn't pleased. We are far more careful now.
Hmm, I get so little time in the shop I can't devote any time to this, maybe I'll just save all my old cans til I retire, would it be any crazier to have a collection of empty cans. I do have a can of UPOL that I'm curious about now, as well as a old can of factory match loaded by a paint shop.
We did try to evacuate the can, but try as we may, nothing would come out. Besides, there is some entertainment value to a semi-full pressurized spray can being punctured.
I've saved a few marbles in my time too. I just squirt the cans empty, but there's always a little pressure left. I put the can on the bench, throw a couple old rags over it, and just stab the can through the rags with a sharp knife. When you pull the knife out, the remaining paint just soaks into the rag. then I slice the can up one side with the same knife & dump the wet marble out on the rag. I can't imagine making a device to do this. ;-)
I'm 63 and had no idea I was throwing away marbles all my life. I'm going to steal a Mason jar from my poor wife and get started. I can't wait to show my hot rod buddies. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Mike Rowe did a show on marble making in season 4 episode 15 of Dirty Jobs and they were going in spray cans. I had no idea before I watched that show. Now with the thanks of this thread I have something to do with the extra 25 seconds of my day before washing up. thanks.
I never knew that..When my brother and I were around 9 and 10 years old we would go back in the woods and make a fire and throw the old paint cans it and watch them explode because of the cool colors they would make when they exploded.Till one day one exploded and a marble went zinging by my head and inbedded it self in a tree. No more after that.We were all young and stupid at one time lol.Bruce.
I shared this thread with my father in law. He had no idea there were marbles in there and he's been collecting for years, although he has tapered off in recent years. He said he was going to go home and start digging through his old rattle cans. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
That ax looks like a startling revelation Benson and Stabler would find about 3/4 of the way thru the show.
Hey Dickster, I wore the knees off of my dungarees from shooting marbles on the playground, Along with several other boys. There was a crew of us serious marble shooters, most of us were in the third grade. Steelies and clearies were in great demand in my heyday as a marble shooter back in 1964. Good memories.
I nip the side of the can with the air cutoff wheel as it(the cut) is pointed into the trash can. It sprays the excess air and paint into the trashcan. I have a rag on the table as I cut the rest of the can open. The rag(bath towel) catches the excess paint still in the can and catches the marble. I wonder if it`d help if you froze the can.
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