Methods for cracking hickory nuts?

[kyspartan]

got yard full of them, i just use a bfh

 

[jonyyuma]

Black walnuts, use a large 6 point or 12 pt. socket. large enough to hold one nut. take a pair of safety glasses, and another socket that fits into the one with the nut. then tap the top socket with ball-pean hammer.Use 4 inch or larger vice in shop if you don't like sockets. Yumm. Jy.

 

[om21braz]

They work great and the purchase was made so he would quit using our r**** reloading press. Didn't hurt the r**** press, but the press always needed cleaning prior to reloading shells.

I thought I was the only one with that idea LOL!

 

[gauthier]

NO big deal,,just work,,hammer and block of something ,,,concrete or rock,,tapp tapp,nut busts in half,than you gotta get the nut out,,more tapping,so you than pick the nut out of shell,in as few a pieces as you can but....be carfull about mixing hulls with nuts,,make you teeth break,,hard work if you plan on getting a 1/2 pt or so,,but the flavor will beat about anything going.

 

[jinman]

Where is Euell Gibbons when you need him? Remember, he used to say that Grapenuts taste like wild hickory nuts.

I actually like the small vise idea. It can apply pressure without a crushing/shattering blow.:thumbsup:

 

[Bird]

I don't think I ever worked with hickoy nuts or chestnuts, but I've sure had lots of experience cracking and shelling pecans, and a little less experience with walnuts and other nuts. I think I may have tried just about every kind of nutcracker made at some time or other and the Texas Native Inertia Nutcracker was the best I ever used. It's also designed so it cannot crush the nut and ruin the meat. I had 2 of them when I had a dozen pecan trees before moving back to town 8 years ago.

 

[beenthere]

Pecans and English (CA) walnuts are easy compared to hickory nuts and compared to black walnuts.

 

[Bird]

Pecans and English (CA) walnuts are easy compared to hickory nuts and compared to black walnuts.

As I said, no experience with hickory nuts, but many years ago, I just about decided that black walnuts just weren't worth the effort.:laughing:

 

[tglass]

So have I Bird, and never saw one of these rubber band machines. Still..pretty slow. What do the commercial suppliers use? There used to be places that would shell nuts for a minimum price in Texas, but after another I can do it cheaper eppisode I gave up.

 

[Bird]

So have I Bird, and never saw one of these rubber band machines. Still..pretty slow. What do the commercial suppliers use? There used to be places that would shell nuts for a minimum price in Texas, but after another I can do it cheaper eppisode I gave up.

Yep, that rubber band machine is still pretty slow, but it's the fastest I ever used. I've cracked quite a few 5 gallon buckets full with it. Of course, there are quite a few places with machines to do the job. In fact, the last 2 or 3 years we had the pecan trees, I'd take the pecans to the Bancroft Pecan Company in Powell, TX (about 9 miles east of Corsicana, TX, on S.H. 31). They had one price per pound to crack pecans, a slighter higher price to crack and shell, and a third and higher price to crack, shell, and clean pecans. Of course they also bought and sold pecans, so I'd sell them enough to pay for the cracking of the ones we wanted, then my wife and I would finish the shelling and cleaning.