Molds for bearings

The bearing molds are small, dull steel balls, each with a small hole, purchased by Bill Denbrough and Richie Tozier from Kitchener Precision Tool & Die in Derry, Maine, in July 1958. They are the physical means by which the Losers' Club transforms one of Ben Hanscom's inherited silver dollars into two silver slugs, the ammunition for their first direct assault on the creature known as It. The molds embody the club's transition from fearful speculation to active, armed resistance, turning a sentimental keepsake into a weapon forged by childhood belief and desperate courage.

Acquisition and Purpose

After deciding that making silver bullets was too risky, Bill Denbrough and Richie Tozier researched how to make bearings at the Derry Public Library. They learned that the process required molds, which they obtained from Kitchener Precision Tool & Die, a machine shop run by a great-great-grandnephew of the brothers who owned the Kitchener Ironworks. Bill and Richie went to the shop together, carrying all the cash the Losers' Club could raise—ten dollars and fifty-nine cents. When Bill asked the price, Carl Kitchener, the owner, quoted an unexpectedly low sum of fifty cents per mold. Bill paid a single dollar for the two molds, a transaction that felt almost providential to the boys, given their limited funds and the gravity of their mission.

The Casting of the Silver Slugs

On the night of July 23, 1958, the seven members of the Losers' Club gathered in Zack Denbrough's workshop to cast the slugs. Ben Hanscom, who had the steadiest hands and the most practical knowledge, took charge of the operation. He placed one of his father's silver dollars into a cut-down mortar shell that served as a makeshift crucible, clamped it in a vise, and heated it with a blowtorch. When the silver was molten, Beverly Rogan, chosen for her steady aim, held a homemade funnel over one of the bearing molds while Ben poured the liquid metal. The process was repeated for the second slug. After the silver hardened, Ben used a chisel and hammer to open the molds along their cut-lines, revealing two small, perfectly round silver balls. The slugs bore faint traces of the original coin's date and Lady Liberty's hair, marking them as objects transformed from currency into instruments of mythic purpose.

Significance and Use

The silver slugs were given to Beverly Rogan, who had proven herself the most accurate shot with Bill Denbrough's Bullseye slingshot. During the confrontation at 29 Neibolt Street, Beverly fired one of the slugs at the werewolf form of It, striking it in the snout and driving it back into the drainpipe. The slug's effectiveness confirmed the Losers' belief that their collective faith in the power of silver could harm the shape-shifting monster. The bearing molds, though small and unremarkable, thus became a pivotal element in the club's first successful act of defiance against It, symbolizing the fusion of practical ingenuity, shared belief, and the courage to act against an ancient evil.