# Billiardball Clocks



## jttheclockman

Well I was finally able to get some of these billiardball clocks done last night for an upcoming craft show this weekend. I had to wait on an order for a carbide fostner bit because a standard HSS one was wearing too fast. The billiardballs are standard 2-1/4" pool balls and the base is made from red oak and rosewood and finished with a waterbased semigloss lacquer. It is suppose to resemble the triangle rack.  Hopefully they will be good sellers. Only time will tell. Thanks for looking and have a great day.


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## Jim15

They are awesome, bet they sell great.


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## glycerine

Wow.  I like them very much!  Do you mind me asking what your price will be on those?


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## nava1uni

These are very cool.  I would buy if I saw them at a fair.  Nice job.


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## desertrat

Those are really neat. Good job.
John H


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## gpgsm

Well done!
How did you chuck the ball?
Thanks


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## mredburn

Great design,  well executed.  MIke


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## fitzman163

Very COOL!!!!!!


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## Mark

They are really cool. I'd definitely give them a second look if I was shopping...


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## AceMrFixIt

Great job, who would have thought.......well I guess you did. Should be a good seller.


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## artme

Neat idea and well done.

Just to nit pick - they are pool balls. Billiards is played with three balls and they have no numbers on them.


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## jttheclockman

glycerine said:


> Wow. I like them very much! Do you mind me asking what your price will be on those?


 

I will start out asking $25 and feel out the shows. I never know where the price of items end up when I first introduce them. The big expense with these is the clock inserts. They have risen in price this past year so I will see how it goes. 

As far as jigs for working on these, I will try next week to take some photos. Very hectic around here for the next 4 weeks between work and shows. I still have some other projects I need to get done. 

Thanks all for the kind words.


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## keandkafu

I can't see the picture, did it get removed?


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## glycerine

artme said:


> Neat idea and well done.
> 
> Just to nit pick - they are pool balls. Billiards is played with three balls and they have no numbers on them.


 
And they don't have clocks in them either!


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## glycerine

keandkafu said:


> I can't see the picture, did it get removed?


 
I can still see it.


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## DennisM

artme said:


> Neat idea and well done.
> 
> Just to nit pick - they are pool balls. Billiards is played with three balls and they have no numbers on them.



Actually, that's Carom you are thinking of, Billiards is a general term that encompasses all forms.

There is Carom (three balls No pockets)
Straight Pool. 
Snooker 
3 ball, or 3 Cushion.. 
8 Ball.
9 ball
10 ball
 and a few others...

Carom is a great game and really fun! 

(used to pay my bills with pool)


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## johnnycnc

Those are very nice, John.
Fantastic idea!


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## NewLondon88

These look great! The finish is superb.. your painting skills are far beyond
what I can do. If I painted those numbers, you'd probably know which 
ball was which.. but that's about it.

I'm ok with turning a sphere, but how do you get a seamless finish on one???


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## DennisM

NewLondon88 said:


> These look great! The finish is superb.. your painting skills are far beyond
> what I can do. If I painted those numbers, you'd probably know which
> ball was which.. but that's about it.
> 
> I'm ok with turning a sphere, but how do you get a seamless finish on one???


 
Those are real pool balls I do believe. Not turned..


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## CaptG

Sweeeet.  Those are really cool John.  Thanks for showing and good luck at the shows.


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## NewLondon88

DennisM said:


> Those are real pool balls I do believe. Not turned..



D'OH!!   I read the 'red oak and rosewood' and I thought he  ... 
oh .. nevermind.. :redface:


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## Woodlvr

Great work John. I paid $35 for a Green Bay clock for my daughter two years ago.


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## artme

glycerine said:


> And they don't have clocks in them either!



So where do you buy your pool equipment.:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::tongue:


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## artme

DennisM said:


> Actually, that's Carom you are thinking of, Billiards is a general term that encompasses all forms.
> 
> There is Carom (three balls No pockets)
> Straight Pool.
> Snooker
> 3 ball, or 3 Cushion..
> 8 Ball.
> 9 ball
> 10 ball
> and a few others...
> 
> Carom is a great game and really fun!
> 
> (used to pay my bills with pool)




"Tis indeed a great game. We have friends with an autistic son. Great young fellow. Part of the way we have helped to "get him out of his shell" and to show his parents his capabilities was to teach him to play pool.

Bought his own table from his own funds and now wHops the lot of us!!!!


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## penmanship

FANTASTIC !!  those are cool.......................


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## comben001

How do you fit a flat clock on a round ball ? Isn't there a gap on both sides of the clock ?


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## broitblat

:beer::good::good:

  -Barry


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## alphageek

comben001 said:


> How do you fit a flat clock on a round ball ? Isn't there a gap on both sides of the clock ?



I have to assume the HARD part is holding the ball.  If you think about it, there won't be a gap... Picture the ball.... Now sand one side flat... You will see a perfect circle at the edge of the flat part.

Drilling the hole is the same effect... At the edges of the hole will be a perfect circle!



Cool clocks J.T.


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## NewLondon88

alphageek said:


> Now sand one side flat... You will see a perfect circle at the edge of the flat part.
> 
> Drilling the hole is the same effect... At the edges of the hole will be a perfect circle!



Or if you cut out a circle in a flat piece of wood on the lathe, it will hold
a sphere for drilling. Doesn't even matter much what size as long as it isn't 
larger than the width of the ball. You wouldn't even need to sand it flat.


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## alphageek

NewLondon88 said:


> Or if you cut out a circle in a flat piece of wood on the lathe, it will hold
> a sphere for drilling. Doesn't even matter much what size as long as it isn't
> larger than the width of the ball. You wouldn't even need to sand it flat.



Sorry if I was confusing.... I do NOT recommend sanding flat.   I know that the bit will take care of that - what I was trying to do was create a visual for comben to understand how a flat clock goes into a sphere w/o gaps.


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## NewLondon88

Ah .. gotcha.

um .. yeah. I knew that. :redface:


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## jttheclockman

comben001 said:


> How do you fit a flat clock on a round ball ? Isn't there a gap on both sides of the clock ?


 

Hello all

First I would like to thank all for the kind words. I sold 2 at the first one day show yesterday and have a cfew 2 days shows for the next 3 weekends so will see how that goes. Sold 6 pens also which makes me feel good. There was 2 other pen turners there also. 

To quickly answer a couple questions yes holding the ball requires a jig to make it happen and getting the center of the numbers is another concern when drilling for the inserts. The inserts are 1-7/16" round and require a hole of 1-3/8" which is plenty room within the shere of the ball which is 2-1/4" As long as you do not surpass that you will be able to drill safely and have the clock cover the hole. I have included a close up of the rim of the clock to show that it does fit flat and there is no gaps.

Have a great day and again thanks for the nice words.


Sorry forgot the photos


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## firewhatfire

This was a neat find.  

Never saw this post before. 

Phil


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## LeeR

jttheclockman said:


> glycerine said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow. I like them very much! Do you mind me asking what your price will be on those?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will start out asking $25 and feel out the shows.
Click to expand...


First, those are really nice!  I would imagine they would move quickly at that price.  Seems pretty reasonable to me.


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## jttheclockman

firewhatfire said:


> This was a neat find.
> 
> Never saw this post before.
> 
> Phil



Wow here is a blast from the past. Thanks Phil

I have to tell you when I first started making them I did not know how well they would sell. Being basically 6 years selling, I can safely say they are a hit and will always be in my inventory for shows. I have done well with them.

I also can say that I am working on adding a couple new things to the Billiardball lineup. Will see how those go.

Thanks again for the flashback.


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## jttheclockman

LeeR said:


> jttheclockman said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> glycerine said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow. I like them very much! Do you mind me asking what your price will be on those?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will start out asking $25 and feel out the shows.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> First, those are really nice!  I would imagine they would move quickly at that price.  Seems pretty reasonable to me.
Click to expand...



Just for a point of info I now charge $30 for them. They still sell well. Comes with the stand.


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## asyler

very cool,


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## Jim Smith

They look fantastic!  What about putting green felt on top of the tri-angle base as part of the billiards table theme look?  Just a thought... 

Jim Smith


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## jttheclockman

Jim Smith said:


> They look fantastic!  What about putting green felt on top of the tri-angle base as part of the billiards table theme look?  Just a thought...
> 
> Jim Smith



I like that idea. I may make a few and let the customer choose. Thanks. To take it a step further I may use different colored felt. Today many tables are different colors other than green. My table has tan felt. I have a billiard clock that has a mini table in it with brown felt to match the table I own. So maybe they may want to match the clock to their table.


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## Parshooter11

Fantastic!!!


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## PapaTim

Well done on the clocks and those bases are spot on. Very reminiscent of the pool rack triangle.


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## jttheclockman

For those that commented about these clocks recently, I thank you for the kind words. Thanks Phil for digging it out of the archives.


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## jyreene

Nice work. I really like the color match from the blue clock face and the blue billiard ball. That just hits it out of the...pool table.


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