What is the material used to make balls for billiard table games.? Were they ever made from pure ivory.?

Question

What is the material used to make balls for billiard table games.? Were they ever made from pure ivory.?

Answer 1

it is a resin, and yes they were made from ivory

Answer 2

Yes several years ago they were made out of ivory...but now that is ilegal. Now they are made out of a special resin. Aramith are the leader in billiards balls. All pro tournaments use them.

Answer 3

The exacting requirements of billiards are met today with balls cast from phenolic resin.

Historically, balls were often made of clay, and even ivory for a period.

In the mid-ninteenth century, in an uncommon show of accidental environmentalism, the billiard industry realized that the supply of elephants (their primary source of ivory) was limited. They challenged inventors to come up with an alternative material that could be manufactured. John Wesley Hyatt answered the call by inventing cellulose nitrate in 1870, branded under the name celluloid, the earliest industrial plastic. Subsequently, to fix the problem of cellulose nitrate instability, the industry experimented with various other synthetic materials for billiards balls such as bakelite and other plastic compounds.

Eventually phenolic resin became the industry standard and is virtually the only billiard ball material used today