January 20, 201214 yr I need to crack Butternuts. Does anyone have a pic or an idea how to make a extreme heavy duty nutcracker to use on butternuts? Any and all help is much appreciated.
January 20, 201214 yr I have a few "Blacksmith Nutcrackers" from a 500gram up to an 8lb one but I call them hammers. LOL
January 20, 201214 yr Think of a small pair of tongs except riveted on one end, make sort of a wolf jaw taper the reins and a nice little scroll on the end. I tried to attach a drawing but the attach file thing didn't work. Message me with your email address and I can email the drawing to you.
January 20, 201214 yr Maybe you could forge new 'nutcracker jaws' for a pair of bolt cutters. Otherwise I guess it's hammers. http://new.yankeemagazine.com/article/hard-nut-crack
January 20, 201214 yr Sounds like a great excuse to buy a fly pres That is what my wife uses mine for.
January 20, 201214 yr Perhaps if you bolted the lower handle of said bolt cutters to a short plank they would be easier to use. The lower jaw could be forged into a dish shape to hold the nut while the upper jaw, perhaps forged like a straight peen, does the cracking. Of course the lower jaw in a pair of bolt cutters need to be able to move a bit. But if you secured the end of the handle to the plank with a pivot pin and captured the front of the lower handle in a fork then I think you'd have something. Go check out the motion of a bolt cutter to see what I mean. Observe what happens when you try to pin down one handle.
January 20, 201214 yr Dennis what are you some kind of caveman or blacksmith? what's the difference? :P
January 20, 201214 yr Here's a page with a few ideas. Black walnut crackers I've seen the lever type made with a foot pedal so they can be used sitting down with leg power. My Grandad cleaned, cracked, and picked out 53 lbs. of black walnut meats last winter to keep himself busy (90yrs. old). We've bought and made him all kinds of nut crackers over the years, but he normally uses a hammer to crack them and a pick made from a nail... -Derek
January 21, 201214 yr Maybe keithh999 will post a pic of his nutcracker. I believe it would do the job.
January 23, 201214 yr oh you mean this one? starts as a 12" piece of 3/8 square...forge down one end to 3/16" ..offset to one side.... punch or drill 1/4 hole..rivet and finish as desired
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