My neighbor's son runs a local pizza shop. She stopped by the other day and brought us a pizza then showed me a small wooden mortar and pestle that her son had bought online. He wanted to use it to grind up garlic but it was way too small. She asked me if I could make a bigger one and that they'd pay me for it.
Here's the finished product. I've never done a segmented turning before and the angles drove me nuts but thanks to advice from other forum members on a thread I posted, I got it worked out. The only thing I would have done differently was to use Titebond II instead of Titebond III due to the dark glue lines. The mortar is 7 1/2" in diameter and 4 inches tall. I made the sides extra thick on purpose and made it oversized as it's going to be used for crushing several heads of garlic at a time. I was going more for function over form as it's going to need to stand up to some heavy duty use in a restaurant.
I made a small pestle that I really didn't like so I turned another bigger one that I'm happier with, I gave both of them to her. I didn't charge her for it as it was a learning experience for me. The wood didn't cost anything because it was all maple that I took out of my firewood pile. I cut up firewood on the bandsaw to make small planks, then flattened one face and side on the jointer and ran them through my planer. That was the easy part, cutting the (*&@$! angles is what gave me the most heartburn. I finished the mortar and both pestles with a butcher block conditioner that I have that's made up of food grade mineral oil and beeswax.