My grandfather (a veritable font of antique trivia) told me that an ancient Chinese method of shaping stone beads was to carve deep holes in hard rocks of varied textures, and then arrange them in a rock garden with a waterfall that directed streams of water into the the holes. A chunk of Jade, or other bead material, was then placed into the coarsest rock and gradually tumble-ground into a sphere. Once round it was moved to the hole in the next finer textured rock, while another rough chunk was placed into the first rock. This progression continued through finer and finer textured rocks until polished spheres emerged from the process. I don't recall his explanation for cutting the holes (water wheel driven drills, probably). I love this sense of aesthetics, patience wasn't a problem because the process was so interesting and beautiful -- a gushing gurgling garden fountain factory of fascination!