Lewis bag and Wooden Mallet Crusher, Canvas Ice Bag Reusable Canvas Bag with Wood Hammer Mallet for Ice Crushing-Wooden Hammer and Canvas Bag, Bar Tools, Bartender Kit, Kitchen Accessory

The first thing I did was wash the bag because it’s cloth and I always wash clothing and linens before wearing/using them the first time. I turned it inside out and let it soak overnight in a small bucket with a bit of dish detergent and boy am I glad I did! The water was brownish-red the next morning so even though the canvas looked a natural color it obviously has some dye in it you wouldn’t want on your ice. Other than that it works just fine.

I purchased this item in order to crush some ice at my campsite while I spent a week razor clamming with a friend on the Pacific Coast in Washington State. I initially worried that the ice might taste like the bag and lend a bad flavor to the drink that I made using the crushed ice, but there was no trace of bag odor. I was also uncertain as to how robust the fabric would be, given that I would be beating the bag with a wooden mallet repeatedly. However, over the course of that week and subsequent uses, I could find no sign of fabric wear or degradation. Now an electric ice crusher does a better job in terms of crushed ice particle size and ease, but this worked just fine for a more primitive setting like camping. My only reason for not giving the thing 5 stars across the board is that it was a little hard to get all of the ice out of the bag, and I am still a little suspicious of how well the fabric will hold up over more uses. But so far, so good!

It's a lewis bag and a wooden hammer. It makes crushed ice from larger ice blocks. It's only missing a scoop, but they aren't hard to find. It's what I expected and at a reasonable price. If you're making cocktails at home, I'd recommend this one.