I bought 2 old billiard balls with the intent of cutting out the numbers to incorporate. I have googled and googled and cannot find how to cut these. One person said too hard and dangerous to do. So, I guess I will drill holes and use for yard ornaments… haha.

His set up involved a ferociously sharp steel bur in a flexshaft, used in front of a high-powered air scoop. I don’t recall how the billiard or bowling balls were held-- that might be the biggest challenge.

I visited the House of Balls several years ago, bought a piece. When I went there, the place was littered with beer bottles, cups, napkins, etc, from a party the night before, and Alan was hung over but friendly.

I’ve used diamond blades to slice up soapstone, goes through it like a hot knife through butter. That said, I’d probably use a fine bladed woodworking saw or a jeweler’s saw on ivory, that is what I generally use, though I only cut fossil ivory. For roughing out soapstone I usually just use a hacksaw.

I really am sorry if i seemed to Brenda to be discouraging. It was not my intention to discourage. Quite the opposite. I’m not any kind of expert on plastics or billiard balls, not having squandered my youth in pool halls. But the question was a sort of "blue-sky" effort, not specific enough to attempt an answer - except by the rare bird who actually has cut up billiard balls. Anyone? By the way, by observation I am fairly confident that bowling balls are made of a very different material than billiard balls, if for no other reason than that bowling balls have to be easily drill-able for finger holes, something which is done post-manufacture.

It might be well to plan your cut a deeper into the sphere than your finished design to allow for the thickness of the blade kerf as well as leaving some room for error should the blade mar/chip the entrance or exit surfaces. Then the “base” can be flat-sanded to eliminate such flaws.

OK - Nothing is impossible to the great minds on Orchid. After all there are people amongst us who can cut even diamonds.

I know this falls more in the catagory of ‘crafting’, but I am wanting to incorporate a cut up billiard ball and parts into some work. Does anyone know how to cut up a billiard ball? Safely? I have googled and googled. On etsy and pintrest there are pieces for sale but I cannot find instructions as yet.

There are two references this morning to diamond saws. No, you can’t cut either ivory or plastic with diamond blades, as they aren’t hard enough. Diamond blades only cut materials that are around 4 on Moh’s and up. You can putyour thumbnail against a diamond blade and it might burn but it won’t cut. Your thumbnail just isn’t hard enough. I’m not saying you should do that, but you can. Plastic and ivory are worked with wood saws and maybemetal lathes and the like. They are more related to wood than stone. I used to work ivory some, back in the days when it was legal.

It is probably no deep secret, but who has taken the trouble to find out what kind of plastic billiard balls are made of? We know from their intended use that they must be very hard material to withstand repeated point impacts from others of their kind. But how would the material behave under a drill or saw? Would it melt or create an impossible gunk or unclearable chips? Abrasive cutters (diamond wheels and the like) seem to get nowhere but into trouble with most plastics. The little work i have done with drilling and cutting (some) plastics tells me that drill bits and saws have to be shaped much differently than for cutting in wood or metal or stone. Edges have to be ground into quite surprising shapes - nothing I would have guessed at without informed advice. Cutting speeds and pressure also is different. Wrong shape or too much pressure and wild chipping, melting, or fractures suddenly appear to spoil your day.

I’m on my phone so I’ll be brief. Old billiard balls were ivory. Not many of those still around. Modern ones are plastic. Either can be cut with sharp woodworking tools. Look out for the dust…

I don’t know how to cut up billiard balls. I could probably figure it out eventually - but my first impression is that it is quite a challenge without some well-developed skills, good tools, and versatile ability to make jigs and tools.

Also as an aside, I used to work for an old timer who was a jeweler once in a Vegas Pawn shop 50 years ago. He had two white cue balls that were made of solid Ivory. That’s what they used to be made of before plastic.

Some of the suggestions had some merit, or might have had, if we knew what was wanted. For example, someone suggested sandwiching and clamping the ball between two pieces of plywood which had round holes into which the ball might nestle. I thought that was a pretty good start. But how tightly would you have to clamp the wood together to keep the ball from rotating under the influence of the saw, whether the saw was used with reciprocating motion (like a hand saw) or if it were some kind of circular saw? And if the ball did turn, what would guarantee it would rotate without its axis shifting and thus deviating from the intended plane of the saw cut? And if it were held tightly enough, how soon would the pressure close the cut against the sides of the saw?

But what does “cut up billiard balls” mean? In half? Into slices? Into segments like a tangerine? Is just one piece wanted or is the whole ball wanted? in other words, can one drill holes into the "waste" portion of the ball or make other modifications to the ball to enable it to be held safely? The question simply didn’t contain enough to allow a useful answer.

There are two references this morning to diamond saws. No, you can’t cut either ivory or plastic with diamond blades, as they aren’t hard enough. Diamond blades only cut materials that are around 4 on Moh’s and up. You can putyour thumbnail against a diamond blade and it might burn but it won’t cut. Your thumbnail just isn’t hard enough.

I found this forum and one post did have successful results on cutting the balls in half. He also was nice enough to put what saw blade he used.

This is very hard material. It is round and slick with no flat surfaces to grip in a vice or clamp. Are you sure you really want to do this? Why billiard balls? I enjoy a challenge as much as anyone - but I don’t want to spend a lot of brain power and time unless you are a person well-equipped to make use of any ideas that I or others may come up with.

Brenda- I used to know a guy in Minneapolis/ St Paul who carved bowling balls. His name is Alan Christian and he has The House of Balls. He does a bunch of sculpture with found materials, but his bowling ball carvings were amazing.

I am not sure whether a diamond saw blade is the best thing for cutting resin. But I don’t see how it could hurt to try. One of the more laborious ways (but very safe), that rock hounds cut round material is to mix some plaster, put some into a quart milk carton with the ball squeezed in. You can layer the balls (rocks) alternately, and then it fits comfortably into the vise. Another simpler option is grinding a flat, gluing that to a piece of wood, then clamp the wood into the vise. This has the addition of letting you get every last slice of material, down to the wood. Thomas III

The speed of the advancing vise should be VERY slow so that the blade isn’t deflected by the smooth, round surface of the ball. In other words, the blade will be spinning against the presenting sphere long enough to create a notch and slowly cut it’s way straight into the ball.

I’m not saying you should do that, but you can. Plastic and ivory are worked with wood saws and maybemetal lathes and the like. They are more related to wood than stone. I used to work ivory some, back in the days when it was legal.

This has been a good and informative discussion. No problems, Marty. I am getting the picture that the work is not what I have equipment to accomplish. I may just cut by hacksaw. Nothing to lose, really. I am mostly wanting the number with sufficient material around it to use as a cab, and the extra to drill and somehow hang. Not sure yet. I have looked at pics of many different pieces.

If you’re trying to slice a piece then I would suggest a band-saw with a metal cutting blade, keep it oiled and put the ball in some sort of firm holder, not holding it in your hands.

Sorry John and Jo-Ann, I have cut numerous billiard balls on both my 10’ and 12" saws with absolutely no problem. The nice thing about cutting them on my slab saws is the use of the auto feed feature. They cut nice and straight and smooth. The problem is gripping them in the vise but after one or two slips I was able to get them in nice and solid. I have a student who loves to use the slabs in her jewelry. So, there has been no damage to my blades either. Ivory I cut with a regular wood saw… small jig saw works well. Cheers, Don in SOFL.

I agree. Gripping the ball in the saw vise can be accomplished by first sanding a flat on opposite (waste) sides of the ball. My thought is that if the ball is nestled into drilled holes and clamped down tight, there is a good chance that the force of the blade might spin it out of position, especially since the lapidary saw uses an oil coolant.

We used to belong to the Art Car Community when we lived there for a couple of years while we worked in at Acme Tattoo Shop.

Did not know where to put this question so I will try a few different forums. I am looking to cut a billiard ball in half. Has anyone done this and if so what tool and what blade??? Thanks

We use old ivory cue balls for scrimshaw and carving. I drill 1 1/2’ holes in two pieces of plywood and sandwich the ball between the two pieces. using the plywood to hold the ball push it through a bandsaw.

Over the years, a lot of different materials have been used to make billiard balls, including ivory. During the first half of the twentieth century or so one of the materials used was celluloid, the same material used for making photographic film. Celluloid has the potential to be extremely flammable, if not down-right explosive under the right conditions, hence the urban myth that hitting one billiard ball with another hard enough could cause an explosion (it actually takes much more force and heat than that to cause a reaction, a rifle shot or torch flame for instance). They are now made using other compounds based mainly on silicates that are much more stable. Unless the actual age (made after the forties or fifties) and/or composition of the ball in question is known, I would make sure that any cutting procedure used is cooled with some type of water drip like that used in lapidary or masonry work. Just in case.