Cast Iron Mortar and Pestle Bowl (4.5 in.)

This is the bowl for people who make things in quantity. Four and a half inches gives you room to work a real batch at once, so if you blend your own incense by the jar or process a whole harvest in one sitting, you are not doing the job in three rounds and losing half of it to the sides.

Iron is the practical choice for heavy material. It has the density to break down resin and dried root under steady pressure, and it is the kind of tool that gets handed down rather than replaced. Buy it once.

Details

Four and a half inches across, cast iron, bowl format, with a matching pestle sized to the bowl.

Ways to Use It

Resin, dried root, whole spice, anything dense. Press and roll rather than striking and the work goes faster. One trick worth knowing: if resin turns gummy under the pestle, ten minutes in the freezer first and it shatters cleanly instead of smearing.

Try It With

Pairs well with Angelica Root and with resin from the Resin Incense collection. Want the same iron in a smaller footprint? That is the 3.8 inch bowl.

Care

Dry it fully after use and give it a thin coat of oil now and then. Bare iron darkens tannin heavy material such as oak bark and black tea, so use steel or stone for anything you need to stay pale.