I have hickory trees all over my property and now I have a bazillion hickory nuts all over my property. Does anybody know of a good way to shell hickory nuts? For those who have not seen a hickory nut, it looks, and tastes, very much like a walnut but about 1/3 smaller. :lol:

we always used a hand corn sheller on walnuts

I have a bunch of hickorys too & plenty of nuts! What the squirrels don't eat or hoard I put in a 50# seed bag with the shells on and as they dry the the shells pop open. The dry shells burn good in the wood burner.

The nuts on the ground are opening up, exposing the hard inner shell. Now, I can get the husk off easily but that shell poses a problem. The nut meat is so weirdly shaped (like a pecan or walnut) that it is difficult to get it out without just breaking it all up. I thought somebody might have a secret method. These nuts are a lot like crawdads....it is more work than it is worth to eat them..... :lol:

Hickory nuts (shelled) bring a premium price in some areas. I suggest some channellocks (for the outside ) and just using a nut pick to get the goodies out. If you have no nut pick, you can forge one pretty easy. All the ones I found this year had worms so I lost out.

Actually, I think Glen posted my BP on making a nutcracker and pick. I have made many of them. However, the time to get the meat out of the shell makes it less than appealing as a cash crop. :cry:

OK, I went to IFI and looked for the BP and it is not there, sorry. Must have been lost in all the re-organization.

BP0155 Nut Cracker and Pick

We used a walnut cracker when I was a kid. Haven't see one in ages. It is mounted on a board and when you pull a lever, the nut is cracked inside 2 half-cup shaped pieces. Kind of hard to explain.

They are a booger to get the meats out of, though.

I just use hickory nuts in my smoker now. Gives meat a great flavor!

there are a lot of different types of hickorys / one is a mockernut hickory which is almost all hull and almost no meat.
try making banna nut bread with them its one of my favorites

Well, these are from the Shagbark Hickory and the amount of meat in the nut makes it almost too much trouble to harvest. HOWEVER...I never thought of using them in the BBQ! Gotta try that.

Glenn, thanks for finding the Nutcracker BP. Guess I just didn't look in the right place.... :oops: I think I will make a few for Christmas gifts this year.

Yip, QC, I agree with you. Hickory nuts can best be eaten by the squirrels and worms. They're real hard to crack, you can crack them with a hammer on the cemet floor. And if they've been on the ground very long, the worms already got the meat.
JohnW

Night before last, I saw the BP for the nutcrackers.

Yesterday, I chopped off two six inch pieces of 1/4 square. Made a set in about an hour plus about thirty minutes to sand blast and gun brown them. Next set will go a lot faster.

The difference in mine and the BP. I put a twist of two rounds where you place the nut for cracking. It grabs the nut very nicely.

Thanks for the idea.

Chuck

Chuck,
How about posting a picture of the finished item? It's my turn to steal one of your ideas....

I have used 3/8 round and forge square the area where it holds the nut. Then I file some coarse grooves across the face of the flat and it holds like a pair of pliers. The nice thing about the nutcracker is that there are untold variations on this theme. I seldom make the same design twice.

Hellol QC. How you been??

I tried all night to post over on the Forgemagic and ended up sending it to Alan L. It was too big a pic.

I will have to get the daughter over here and straighten me up.BOG

But come hook or crook I will get this infernal machine figured out and then wil be able to post.grin

Chuck

Sandpile, send them to my email and I will post them for you.

GLENN --Thanks. I sent it. It is huge but I can not help it. YET.grin.

chuck



If someone wants to try these .. I started with 1/4" square-- cut the pieces 6" long. You need about a 5/8" set for the pivot pin. You can place your rivet so the crackers will not close completley, mashing your finger.GRIN. After setting the rivet, you can file or grind the excess off in front of the rivet.

Chuck, looks good to me, and just the right size for the forum too. :wink:

Quenchcrack and Sandpile,

These look like they would be neat little gifts to make.

Thanks!

I have never made one out of 1/4". I like the looks, though. The ones I made from 1/2" took a lot of work to draw out and were beefy enough to crack a 20# propane tank. :oops: