Comments on: Rings carved from billiard balls

By: Syndaryl

Syndaryl — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:11:00 +0000

That’s probably what Pterry was referencing.

There’s definitely urban legends that they’d explode if used too roughly in a game, but at least Wikipedia can’t find anything to corroborate them (I can’t either with a casual Google). *shrug*

Celuloid is flammable as blue-blazes so any kind of heavy friction would make me very uncomfortable. Thus concern at eg rock tumblers, grinders, etc.

By: SamSam

SamSam — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:41:00 +0000

Is that why the pool balls used by the wizards in the Discworld explode? Did real-world pool balls ever explode?

By: mappo

mappo — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Well, yes – everything’s cheaper if you steal it. What’s your point?

By: SamSam

SamSam — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:42:00 +0000

You never claimed it?? O_o

By: Syndaryl

Syndaryl — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:37:00 +0000

Another ivory-substitute was nitrocellulose – doesn’t that inspire confidence in stuffing some old billiard ball in a rock tumbler :D

By: Moose Gueydan

Moose Gueydan — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 05:45:00 +0000

those are bakelite , not ivory. from a Williams toy pool table. Mid 40′s to 50′s… they are about 1 1/4 inch in diamater Ivory would be yellowed and showing grain by now

By: rattypilgrim

rattypilgrim — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 05:38:00 +0000

My grandfather participated in a numbers game from his printing shop. Or so they say. He ran that kind of printing shop.

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:30:00 +0000

I guess I was just assuming, based on their roundness, that she was starting with a complete small ball (1 1/8″ diameter is an actual “official” size for a miniature version of pool). Looking over the other items on the site, though, I guess it’s more likely that she’s cutting out the numbered section of a full-size ball and doing the rounding herself.

That just makes it even more obvious that they’re not ivory, though, since the colors go all the way through the material.

By: LemonadeLunch

LemonadeLunch — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 02:21:00 +0000

By looking at how small they are…

By: princessalex

princessalex — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:36:00 +0000

Where did you see that the crafter uses toy billiard balls?

By: TheKaz1969

TheKaz1969 — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:12:00 +0000

Andre the Giant was the hand model…

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 23:22:00 +0000

I believe it has been done, though probably in a setting on a metal ring. I have a glass eye that someone left as collateral toward a bar tab in my maternal grandmother’s tavern back in the 50s and never bothered to reclaim. It’s only around 1/4 of a hollow sphere, and doesn’t have enough material to go all the way around anyone’s finger. I don’t know if its shape is atypical for glass eyes or not.

Yeah, my Nana ran that kind of bar.

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 23:04:00 +0000

Just my opinion, but I’d say it’s EXTREMELY unlikely that those tiny balls from toy billiard sets were made from elephant ivory. Even back in the good old days of wild animal slaughter, a toy set made from real ivory would have been so expensive that only the richest could have afforded one, and this crafter wouldn’t have access to a large enough supply of the balls to make this a viable business proposition.

By: Paganator

Paganator — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:59:00 +0000

I’m no expert on the matter — I’m just basing myself on a recent National Geographic article — but I don’t think it would matter since the goal of that rule is to avoid criminalizing people who already owned ivory before the ban. The rules do appear to be less than ideal to really stop ivory poaching and illegal trading though (that was the subject of the article in question).

By: rattypilgrim

rattypilgrim — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:49:00 +0000

This just gave me an idea. Rings made from glass eyeballs. Can that be done?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:47:00 +0000

Even if it’s been converted to another use?

By: Paganator

Paganator — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:43:00 +0000

It’s actually legal to sell ivory that predates the ban.

By: BombBlastLightingWaltz

BombBlastLightingWaltz — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 22:40:00 +0000

Them some small assed balls.

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:48:00 +0000

Those are pool balls, not billiard balls. Except they’re tiny. Did they come from one of those toy pool tables that are still mouldering in every church basement in America?

By: Fredrika Baer

Fredrika Baer — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:40:00 +0000

I imagine that “bonafide used billard balls” means that these vintage billiard balls are made with elephant ivory — by not describing them as ivory, the maker can get around the laws forbidding the sale of ivory.

By: SedanChair

SedanChair — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:38:00 +0000

How am I supposed to hustle pool wearing this

By: L_Mariachi

L_Mariachi — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:29:00 +0000

$160 is a bit steep for something you can make yourself with a grinder and a drill press and a stolen pool ball. Maybe a rock tumbler too, but you can make those yourself for basically free.

By: Funk Daddy

Funk Daddy — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:15:00 +0000

Cool rings..

and now I’m off to google some means of obtaining copious amounts of old billiard balls because it’s clearly possible and never occurred to me before. Sounds fun to haves!