Granodiorite balls

["Clive Murray-White" <clivemw@zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Hi Simon and all,

" How can the Chinese balls be made so cheaply?"

Last time I was up in Cairns selecting Chillagoe marble Dino ( Cairns Marble
boss) told me many interesting stories about how things were done in China
re: stone.

Although he did not mention balls specifically I guess the general rule
applies.

Everything gets done by hand by huge numbers of people, Dino told me about a
marble tile polishing line, wet and dry sand paper all the way up to
polishing compound, the tiles were passed from person to person each giving
it a wipe or two with their grade of sand paper or polishing stuff.

The finished product was cheaper than what he could produce using the most
up-to-date automatic production machinery!.

Same for squaring off huge quarried blocks. In short, by hand, very low
wages.

Talking of balls, I remember going to a sort of theme park/castle in England
where there were stone cannon balls, some finished and some part way through
the process again all done by hand.

regards Clive

Sculptor Clive Murray-White

Web: www.cowwarr.com