Hey there everyone, I had a routine that involved transformaing canes to silks and then silks to balls. Viking manufactured a beautiful auto silk to ball gimmick that is so smooth but they are out of stock now.They cost about $65 each and that's because they are manufactured well. Ever since Viking has been out of stoke of them, I can't find any of that good quality anywhere. I bought some cheaper ones for $20 from China to replace them... big mistake! They broke with in days and even before they broke they didn't even reel in the entire silk... Trust me.. I did not wind them up too much. I saw some on Penguin Magic, and they cost $47, I am wondering if anyonce knows or has purchased these auto silk to ball gimmicks from Penguin magic and could provide me with a review of how well they work. I just want to know if they are good quality because I plan to by 5 of them and before I spend roughly $250 I would like to know how well these onces work before I spend my hard earn money.
Thanks in advance.

One member said the silk to Ball by JL, the balls are plastic and his split at the axis point. I have not read this anywhere else. Actually, no one mentions if the ball is metal or plastic. The problem with plastic is the friction can create heat the may melt the plastic. Maybe some Vaseline will help, or some kind of lubricate. JL balls come in Red, White, Green, Yellow and Pink.

My advice is to call George the owner of Viking and see if he has any idea when new supplies will be available. Viking's ball only comes in Red, and uses a 22 inch long diamond cut silk.

Ok thanks for that insight. I didn't know that these ones were plastic. I don't know if I want plastic ones. Do you know Bill if George has a toll free number to call because it's considered long distance because I live in Canada and for some reason emailing him doesn't quite seem to work. Thanks in advance.

I have one that was manufactured by the now defunct Magic Hands company from Germany. I've had it for almost 20 years and it works like a charm. I would just wait for Viking to restock if you're worried about the quality of the Penguin silk ball.

Jay Marshall gave me a metal one made by a German guy (whose name escapes me, momentarily). I didn't use it every show (too much set up)but when I used it, it killed!!!

Joe Stevens advertised it a few years ago--don't know if he still has them. I've not seen a PLASTIC one. I doubt that plastic would hold up.

Bentrick, no Viking does not have a Toll free number to my knowledge. On the home page, it says they are closed for the holidays until January 2, I believe. Maybe they will answer then your email.

A few things you can try:
You can always confirm with Penguin if the JL Silk to Ball is plastic, I would think they are as the matching Billiard Balls shells are plastic covered with silicon material.

They have Silk to Balls made in China or Hong Kong on eBay. You can always check with those suppliers if they are metal balls as well. I have ordered from wsmagic on eBay and got all I ever ordered from him/her.

The JLs are terrible. Also any of the currently offered ones from China are worse. I spoke with George a while back through email and he said the reason they are out of stock is he can't find good springs anymore.

I had to hunt down a used Viking one. It works perfectly. Don't setlle for less. Get a metal one. Hit some of the buy/sell magic sites and ask around. Someone is bound to have one they don't use anymore.