Ok, who else has a rattle can marble collection? Got bored one cold winter day several years ago and while cleaning up my basement and shop, I got hooked on those little marbles you hear when you shake a spray paint can. I have a collection of Nibs which were clay marbles my Dad played with in the early 1900's. I also have some of the standard marbles my kids had in the 70's and 80's. now I have a couple jars of rattle can industrial marbles my Grandsons became fascinated and played with. Always looking for that special one that is different and somehow made it into a rattle can.
Cool! Going to have to do some harvesting. My previous house was built in 1927 and digging in the garden yielded a jar worth of old clay and glass marbles. You can tell the really old ones as they are not perfectly round. They wobble a bit when rolled on a smooth surface.
Well I'll be. When I was a kid I imagined they were glass marbles and my Dad told me they were probably just plastic. It seems kids are all alike, because my boys wanted to know what made the "klak-itty-klak-itty-klak" when they were younger. Now I am going to have to tell them that I lied! So RMay, I assume you just cut the can open and then clean the paint off of them?
When the can is empty, I put a rag over the can and puncture it near the bottom with a screwdriver. If there is any gas still in it, you will hear it slowly escape. I then use a pair of tin snips to cut the hole larger to pour out any remaining paint and to retrieve the marble. You do find metal ones in things like undercoating, spray polyurethane and some very old spray paint cans.
Wow that’s interesting! I would have thought they were off spec stainless ball bearings. I’ve got a lot of old cans to go through. This will make it fun.
