House of Wolfram offers a unique take on the traditional ball gag by incorporating a french link hinged horse bit turning it into a hybrid thats a great match for pony play while remaining appealing to metal bondage fans and gag fetishists.
You can tell a lot of thought went into the hardware choices for the bit portion of the gag and I couldn’t be happier with the end result.
The stainless steel bit used is called a french hinged link bit in the product description. I had to do a little googling to see exactly what that means since I’m not a horse person, and the best I can tell is that it’s essentially a multi jointed snaffle bit. A regular snaffle bit has only one joint in the center whereas this gag an extra link in the center for the ball to sit. The length of that center link is a perfect size for the ball giving it a nice stable bar to sit on.
Right at the sides of the ball is the next joint followed by another joint at the rings where the straps attach. All of this adds up to a nice fitted look and feel around the face that’s difficult to achieve with bit gags. The wide metal makes it nice and comfortable on the corners of the mouth and there’s absolutely pinching at any of the joints.
The O-ring at the sides has a screw that can be removed using a hex tool. This allows for some flexibility in the fit and makes it possible to switch out the gags, and take the straps off.
The wearer cannot unscrew it by hand if screwed down appropriately. By appropriately I mean there’s kind of a sweet spot for the screw that allows the joint to move but not too much. This is easy to achieve.
One of the biggest problems with authentic horse bit gags is the metal touching the teeth and risk of accidental chipping. The ball mostly eliminates the concern of teeth touching metal. The combination of the ball with the bit makes this gag unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
I love the silicone ball choice. Its slightly more squishy than a traditional gag ball and I believe that makes the 2 inch option more tolerable for the average wearer. The only downside to the choice of ball material I can find is that it’s slightly tacky and collects hair and fuzz easily, but that’s easy to rinse off.
There are 2 different size balls to choose from. 1 ⅝ inch and a 2inch. Due to a little mix up I ended up with both sized balls, and I’m glad that I did because each one is a very different experience.
I started my testing with the large ball because I don’t have anything that large and I was super curious if I could even tolerate it at all. Even Sir thought I was going to have trouble so I wanted to see right away if I could prove him wrong :p (because he’s almost never wrong when it comes to these things)
Right out of the box I noticed the sides of the 2inch ball where it meets the metal have little splits in them. I think this is part of the production process, but just to be safe I took some pics of the sides of the ball before I used it just so I could have a starting point to see if anything changes. I’m happy to report the splits in the sides have not grown although I can’t be sure this will never happen as the small ball arrived without rips and has since developed a couple small ones. This does not affect the function of the ball and is difficult to see, but in my opinion this is something you shouldn’t have to think about on a high end gag with a high end price. I’m guessing a more firm ball would not have this issue with ripping, but then I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the larger size because it would hurt my mouth, so I’m able to overlook this issue for now.
When I finally tried on the large ball I totally forgot about the rips because it just feels sooooo sexy. The cold metal feels very sexy and the weight is gives it that serious bondage feel that I really love.
I was pleasantly surprised that I could accommodate the larger ball and I was super pleased with the full feeling it gave my mouth, and the way the slightly squishy texture of the ball was more gentle on my jaw. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a big gag, and you definitely need to be checking in with you sub because it would be easy to wear for too long and get sore, but it’s so sexy to look at and gives such a great feeling in my mouth that I’m happy to have a little bit of soreness in exchange for some fun.
I didn’t push my luck too far with the first try on but I was able to easily wear it long enough to take a few hot pics. As far as wear time goes, everyone is different, but the large ball is definitely challenging so I would say to start conservative with like 5 minutes, and work up from there. I still need to do more testing to get an exact time that I can wear it for, but I can tell you for sure that I can wear it long enough to entertain Sir and have fun with it so it’s not a waste.
I ended up liking it so much that it took a few days of playing with it before I even wanted to switch it out and try the small ball.
When I first tried on the 1 ⅝ inch ball I noticed right away that my back teeth touch metal, so be aware of that. I believe the selling point is that it protect the teeth but it only protects the front teeth.
So, this is something you need to consider when buying; you can wear the smaller ball for a loooooooong time, but there will be teeth contact with metal. If you’re buying it because of jaw issues keep in mind that it’s 1 ⅝ inch and not 1 ½ inch which is the usual size for a small ball. So it’s not quite standard and not quite “small.” In my opinion a slightly larger ball will completely protect the teeth and stay true to the description of the product, but I believe that people interested in this gag are going to go for the bigger ball anyway.
During my testing I discovered I could push the small ball out of my mouth even on the tightest setting. After some additional testing and lots of drooling (the small ball seems to make me drool more), I was able to figure out that I can tighten the screw on the o-ring a little more and reduce the flexibility of that joint and make it impossible to push out. So, be aware of that if you have a sassy sub. And for the record, I definitely cannot push the larger ball out of my mouth.
The strap is a little disappointing. The edges are finished, but it’s definitely no frills when it comes to details like grooves, hardware and strap keepers. I believe these little details are the things that set the high end gear apart from the cheaper stuff and people who are willing to spend $150 on a gag have high expectations for the final result.
The first thing I noticed is that the strap feels kind of thin. I measured with calipers and found the leather to be 2mm thick which seems on the thin side for the weight of the gag in general.
My Fancy Steel bit gag is very close in weight so I compared the straps and the FS strap is 3.5mm thick which feels perfect. Being that the Wolfram gag strap is thin it doesn't have the same heavy duty feel that the rest of the gag has, and I’m not sure about how the strap will hold up long term because I feel like I’m stressing it pretty good by wearing it on the tightest setting all the time.
Both straps are very long so I have to wear it on the tightest setting. There is no strap keeper so that means I have about 7 inches of slack flopping around in the back. I stole one of my extra strap keepers from my Discerning Specialist cuffs and was able to solve that problem. It was super helpful that the rings on the side come off so I could add the keeper.
The strap is 6 inches on the buckle side and 9.5 inches on the other. I believe they could go much smaller than that. Maybe 4 ½ inches on the buckle side and 8 on the other? I would definitely go shorter on the buckle side and shorter in general.
Style wise, the buckle and rivets do not match. The rivets are silver and the buckle is black. This is visually distracting to me, and is more in line with a prototype than a finished product. They should either both be black, or silver (or better yet- gold! hehehe).
I personally would forego the locking buckle (and use my technique for a lock if needed) in exchange for a regular pronged buckle and metal grommets. This is a heavy gag and it needs a big bossy strap if only to add to the serious tone of the piece. A thicker strap with grommets would not only add to the quality and feel, but the grommets would support the strap a little more and offer more size options by having the holes close together..this might allow for a shorter strap in general and less slack to manage.
Since its thin leather, I feel like I’m stressing the little holes it when I pull it tight. And I would have to say that the kind of customer buying this gag is likely to be an experienced gag fetishist that pulls that shit tight when it goes on. I don’t know what this means for the gag long term I think there’s a chance that it could stretch out a bit over time, and if i already wear it on the tightest setting this could be a problem.
The ability to take the straps off is nice for cleaning because you don’t have to worry about getting the straps wet. I notice that the drool kind of follows the line of the metal on the corners of the mouth and can get the area around the screws really wet so its nice that it can be completely taken apart to be cleaned. When you clean it you’ll want to make sure you give it plenty of time to dry out because water gets inside the hallowed part of the ball. It’s stainless steel so the metal will not rust, but you won't be able to see what's going on under the ball so it's best to just make sure it's as dry as possible before storing it. I just set mine on its side for a few hours and it's fine.
Overall, I absolutely love the design. Its unlike anything out there with the way It combines the ponyplay look with a more traditional ball gag. The ball makes it safer to play with by protecting the teeth, and the ball is slightly cushiony making it easier to tolerate the larger 2 inch size.
The strap has lots of room for improvement but not a deal breaker because it's functional and the unique gag itself takes some of the focus off the strap.
Due to all the issues with the strap and the rips in the ball, I don’t feel that it lives up to the high end price, but the unique bit/ ball combo makes it a bit of a monopoly so you’re just gonna have to eat it because It's definitely a gag you're going to want in your collection. You won’t be disappointed with the performance in general, because the core design of the ball and hardware are very well thought out. Even with the high price tag, I know I’ve certainly gotten my money's worth out of it in fun already.
To be fair, I believe I’m one of the first people to review this gag and it the only one of its kind out there so it’s not unexpected that the design may need some tweaks.
