How do they make worry balls?

Ray · 2004-07-14T12:50:25+00:00

You know, the Chinese iron balls with the chimes inside like ?Some are chrome plated and quite smooth. They've been around for hundreds of years, though I don't know if they originally had the chimes inside. I'd hate to have to cut one open to find out!

Jul 14, 2004 26 Replies

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Bob Chilcoat 22 years ago

Not all of them have chimes inside. I have a set I bought in Chinatown in San Francisco that are solid, roughly 1 3/4" in diameter. Came in a silk covered box. I had to look in a lot of stores to find the solid ones. Most are chrome plated although many of the hollow ones have cloison (sp) decorations on the outside. Mine are chrome plated and because they are solid, much heavier than the hollow ones with chimes. Very relaxing to exercise the fingers with. A good stress reliever, although sometimes I feel like Captain Queeg.

-- Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love America

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Todd Rich 22 years ago

Hey, if you want the solid ones, try MSC

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Koz 22 years ago

Yea..my dad used to do lot of business with bearing suppliers. He'd come home with large balls for us to play with.

Wait...that didn't sound right and WAS NOT intentional goofing.

I bought a pair in Beijing a while back made from jadeite (cheaper jade look-alike). I like the feel and weight of stone even if they don't jingle.

Koz

Todd Rich wrote:

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Old Nick 22 years ago

On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 12:38:56 -0400, Jeff Wisnia vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email And also

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bears you out.

I would say that the original was indeed ribald, but the second explanation was thought up to appease (or humour) "polite company"

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Rich McCarty 22 years ago

That would be 6.4 stones to the average Brit, I believe.

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charles 22 years ago

Nice post. Two notes though.

How metals behave on land and how they behave at sea are two very very different things. For wooden boatbuilding Silicon bronze is used. A very specialised alloy. There are numerous alloys that could be used and that have been tried. And note that the nails are under coats of very very expensive paint that make a ferraris paint seem like fingerpaint by comparison. And if you visit any naval museum or yard or talk to an old sailor he'll tell you they spent most of their time stripping off the new rust and putting coat after coat of paint over warships. Saltwater over time is extremely corrosive stuff. Thus the extensive use of Brass and brass alloys.

Another thing i 'discovered' from the history channel that a historian on one of their digs (when they arent "all world war 2 all the time!" channel) is that the cannon balls were rarely uniform size and tended to have to be made up for each cannon. So each time a ship of the line hit port they couldnt just stock up on a few hundred cannon balls.. they had to literally have them made up for each cannon. Out of all the finds on the dive the historian seemed most intrigued by this. And you can imagine how accurately they likely made spheres 3-400 years ago. Which actually makes your criticism of the story seem even more on target.

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