Stone mills were once a household necessity, and with a bit of remodeling they take on a distinctive charm

Summary: The old stone mill in the rural hometown can be turned into a handicraft with a bit of remodeling

Stone rollers and stone mills are now rarely seen in rural areas, and even when you do see one, it is already worn and dilapidated. I believe few children today know about these old objects, yet for the elderly these old objects carry many memories.

My hometown used to have an old stone mill too, older than my dad. I heard from my grandmother that it came with her dowry back then, which also shows how important stone rollers were in the past - you could say every household had to have a stone roller or stone mill. Occasionally, people who specialized in repairing stone mills and stone rollers would appear in the village, specifically to fix those problematic, hard-to-use stone mills and stone rollers. These craftsmen can now be said to be almost completely disappearing.

But in my childhood, that is, in the 1990s, the stone mill at home was almost always half-idle, with few opportunities to use it. Only occasionally, when my mother wanted to grind some bean flour or the like, would she use it. Most of the time in my childhood, we still went to a specialized flour mill to grind flour.

However, there is a village around here that specializes in making tofu, tofu skin, douhua and other soy products. Many families making that kind of old-style tofu still use stone mills specifically to grind soy milk. People say that tofu made from soy milk ground with this kind of stone mill tastes better. But now there are not many tofu workshops that still insist on using stone mills, after all, this is very physically demanding. Tofu makers have to get up in the middle of the night every day to start grinding soy milk, and early in the morning they rush to the market to sell tofu.

Although stone mills and stone rollers have gradually withdrawn from our lives, occasionally some dealers who specialize in buying stone rollers appear in the village. They generally look for stone mills and stone rollers with relatively good styles, relatively complete, preferably with carved patterns. These people who specialize in buying stone mills and stone rollers also have their eyes on the historical value of stone mills and stone rollers. After all, these old objects can only become fewer and fewer in the future, not more and more. Things are precious when they are scarce. In the future, these relatively complete and beautiful stone mills and stone rollers will have a certain collectible value, which is also very tempting for people who like collecting.

Because stone mills and stone rollers were once necessities in every household, the price when buying them is not very expensive either. However, I still hear that in some villages old stone mills and stone rollers have been stolen. So if you do not want to sell and want to keep them yourself, you still need to store them properly.

Besides collecting, stone mills and stone rollers can be used as decorative items in scenic areas. Some friends with a lot of artistic taste will remodel stone mills and stone rollers into stone stools, stone tables, tea tables, tea trays and other rustic furniture, which also has a distinctive charm.

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