Stone Object | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Stone Object

Stone Object
Submitted by Gerry Hibbert
Tags: 
Stone

Can anyone identify this stone "wheel"

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Gallery: 
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Comments

Submitted by tngan on Tue, 2012-02-07 02:48.

Hi there,

It is some sort of/part of a traditional grinder or a mill, a bit big.  I remember seeing one like this along the Ping Shan Heritage Trail.

Best Regards,

T

Submitted by philk on Tue, 2012-02-07 12:40.

As T says, it looks like a quern stone for grinding wheat and rice into flour.

Submitted by tngan on Tue, 2012-02-07 17:57.

Hi there,

This blog entry (in Chinese) showed a hiking route with a photo of a pair of Quern Stones in an abandoned village in Sai Kung.  It has a route map in the bottom.

Best Regards,

T

Submitted by Gerry Hibbert on Tue, 2012-02-07 20:57.

The Quern Stones are very heavy, and would take a considerable turning force to rotate.  If this is the top stone that rotates, then I suppose the notches (recesses) are for radial "arms" or spokes, used to turn the wheel.   

The axial hole appears to be octagonal, as if it was to be fitted with a post

Quern Stone

 

Millstones I have seen before (in wheat country) would have a top stone of maybe 10-20 cm thickness, whereas the one I saw was about 40cm thick, and those in the blog look to be 60-70cm. This indicates a much higher grinding pressure - why is this required.  Does rice require a such a high pressure.  Has anybody seen one in "operational condition" ?

Submitted by philk on Tue, 2012-02-07 21:19.

Here is one of the stones T was referring to, found along the trail at Ping Shan.

Ping Shan Quern Stone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is also a bunch of them here on this link, some still sitting on the part that catches and funnels the flour: http://orientalsweetlips.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/20111113-089.jpg

They were pretty hefty to be honest, I guess the heavier the stone the finer the powder?

Submitted by mad1941 on Thu, 2015-06-25 18:25.

traditional Crush sugar cane equipment

 

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B3%96%E5%BB%8D