The Democratic advocate., 1906-03-10
Making Billiard Balls.
From the Chicago Tribune.

FROM the Chleago Irlbune.
Few men are competent to turn billiard
ball, and the business is exacting more
skill than ever. before in the history of
ivory turning, for the reason that never
before in the history of the lathe was it SO
easy for an unskilled workman to eat up
his salary in a wasteful manner of cutting
and turning.
A first class billiard ball must be two
and three-eights inches in diameter, abso-
lutely round tc the FIVE thousandths part of
an inch, free from ''barky'' outside and
sand cracks, of live ivory, white and clear
In order to make selection of tusk's
possibihties-always to get three balls of
this regulation size and clearness from
tusk weighing from 75 to $50 pounds,
allowing for the hollow portions and avoid
ing the enamel and sand craeks-here is
the art of the competent ivory turner, for
which he is greatly underpaid and under
appreciated.
The making of billiard ball involves
headwork and handwork. There is no
automatic lathe combination that ever will
turn out a perfect billiard ball however it
may produce the pool ball in its irregularity
of form But before the trained hand can
make ready to turn out the perfect sphere
of the billiard ball the trained eye and
judgment of the turner will have been
taxed to their best effort In the first
place the man will need to recognize the
quality of ivory He must know whether
it be of the best quality, as well as of the
most economical form in the tusk And
when he has made his purchase of the best
possible material, single drafty window in
his shop when the mercury is 10 degrees
above zero may ruin his ivory stock in FIVE
minutes.
Zanzibar and the general west coast of
Africa, produce the best elephant ivory,
while the Siberian ivory from the dead
mastodon is the least valuable, yet requir-
ing good judgment to distinguish it in many
cases. This dead ivory from Siberia is
less valuable in ball than is the compo-
sition of celluloid and bone dust. The
tusk of the African elephant will run from
seyenty-fye pounds to $50 pounds. But
no two tusks, even of the same weight,
present like possibilities in ball making.
One tusk may be blunt and short, while
the other is thin and running to sharp
point. In general way, however, a tusk
that weighs l5e pounds viii be about FIVE
feet six inches long. Its general structure
is that of the cow S horn, running from
shell at the base, gradually thickening un-
I'll the hollow disappears, little short of
half the tusk's length. From this end
ing of the hollow the tusk tapers sharply
until, if it makes three billiard balls of
standard size and best quality, it is all that
may be expected of it for that purpose.
This means that little less than eight
inches of the tusk's length is available.
How to dispose of the remainder of it to
the best advantage, leaving only few
ounces to loss, is the chief business of the
ivory worker.
Cutting tusk for the three ball blocks is
a job in itself. In the first place, the
length of the hollow cannot be certain; also
the outside of the tusk almost certainly will
have sand cracks in the enamel, aud whether
they be deep. or shallow will be of much
consequence But, allowing for these
minute cracks, which must be turned out
to the last shadow from the best ball, to-
gether with the last microscopic trace of
the enamel, the first block for the ball is
cut as close as possible to the point of the
tusk. After this first block is cut to the
last limit of economy the others may be cut
comparatively easily,