We show a more civilized and less messy way to shell all those black walnuts that fall all over the driveway and drive us nuts! And all you need is something you'll find in most tool boxes! Mmmmm...good!
WOW! I have a lever action nut cracker, but I had NO idea that they could be better cracked in quadrants. My property is covered with black walnut trees. Thanks for the info! Happy New Year in 2024!
There are a few black walnut trees on my property and a few years ago I processed some of the walnuts. I was careful to clean and dry them and all the rest….. When it was time to try and crack them? I was in complete shock at how hard they were! I tried everything as to crack them without smashing them, but nothing worked. So I gave up and scattered them around, where the squirrels live in the woods. Thank you for this video! I have learned so much. Your method makes sense and I see that it works for you. I am now inspired to try again. This really was a wonderful teaching video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
Thanks so much! 👍😊 So glad you were able to get something from my crazy little vid! Good luck with yours and wish you success in getting at some of that tasty goodness!
"The anatomy of the Black Walnut". Spot on my friend, spot on. I just spent, Oh about 3 hours cracking my first BWs. 3 hours of futility. Did I get meat, yes. But I was challenging myself with each nut to see if I could champion this infamous foe. It kicked my ass. I thought everyone on youtube was Soooooooo Stupid! I could figure this out, No Problem. After my gracious volunteer wife gave up on me, I kept at it. I "was" getting closer and felt I was almost there. But at 3 in the morning and a half a bottle of Yellow Rose later, I had to go to bed. Or so I thought. That's when I found myself on the couch finishing up my "leftover" Yellow Rose and finding this video. The minute you started to say it, I got it! "Bisect the quadrant, Dumbass....Bisect the quadrant!" I was so ecstatic and really pissed at the same time cuz I wanted to figure it out. Now I understand the term "going nuts". I was, I was. NO ONE on "the Tube" has explained this. Thank You Fine Sir. I'll send you my prototype when I retire off the new invention. Just kidding, there's no retirement. I'll still be cracking BWs the rest of my life. Thanks again.
I’m not strong enough to use that tool, but I do have a nutcracker and I never saw it demonstrated that way showing the four quadrants thanks that was really interesting to know.
Thanks!👍😊 Try loosening the screw on the grips to where it just closes on the nut without cracking it. Tighten it just slightly from there and it should go without too much effort. They key is for the grips to close on it just enough to crack it and no more. It takes time and practice to get the right feel for it. Good luck!
Thanks! Got one big one hanging over much of my driveway and boy does it make a mess! The squirrels chew many of them up before they even ripen! In a nut heavy year, you take your life in your hands walking under it come October! Take care!
What i did was get a hatchet from tractor supply and use the blade to softly but not too soft, strike the nut. It doesnt shatter and it doesnt bother the meat!
Do your self a favor. Drive down to your local Harbor Freight store and buy a 1 ton bench arbor press for about sixty bucks (less if you have a coupon) I guarantee that you will never use anything but it to crack walnut shells. As a bonus you will have it to to press small bearings etc...
I get them all over the yard also. While cutting the grass one year I had one take off like a rocket right into the house that just missed the window. I am always picking them up before I cut the grass now. Thanks for the tip. Enjoyed watching :)
Thanks! I wish I could say I pick them out of my yard but most fall onto the driveway which gets interesting come October and you make sure you’re not parking under it! Also put on a hard hat when picking them up while still lots on it. Very dangerous with those and lawnmowers! Glad it didn’t hit the window. Things are hard as rocks! Thanks for watching and take care!
I use a snow shovel with a piece of PVC pipe on the leading edge. I call it a walnut dozer. Just push it along the ground. The pipe keeps it from digging in.
That was one of the reasons I wanted to show this as so many use the hammer method with frustration while getting hurt and making a mess of it. When I first discovered this I thought, heavy duty nut shell required a heavy duty nutcracker and vise grips seemed like the perfect tool for the job! Once I figured out the best way to approach cracking them, it was smooth sailing! Hope this works well for you! Take care and glad you enjoyed!
Thanks and glad you enjoyed!👍😊 It morphed into that after getting carried away on effects lol! More views than all my other vids combined! Take care and ATB!
Nice video Darcy. Love the humor. Nice method for cracking those black walnuts. I get a few hundred every year that end up as squirel food because I can't give them away. Nobody around here wants them.
Thanks! If I don’t get them, the squirrels take them all around here! Many years they will eat them before they are fully developed leaving a real mess behind in the driveway as they chew the husks off into tiny pieces! In a heavy crop year, I will have about 4000 off my tree! Glad you enjoyed and take care!
Thanks so much for watching! 👍 They’re falling all over my driveway now so if I get time I might do one to show folks the husking and cleaning process.
Where does one find a locking plier like that? All the "heavy duty" ones at the hardware store are flimsy and cant crack the medium or large black walnuts, only the small ones with great difficulty
Great question! These are older ones and they just don’t make them like they used to. Probably better ones out there and would need to do some searching or a flea market with someone selling older tools. Good luck and thanks so much for checking this out!👍😊
Dang YT just dropped your comment on my last vid. Doesn’t like the double ‘letter that comes after G’. I spell it out from now on because I was getting my comments on others vids dropped.
hey bud, had me laughing. I was thinking maybe put them in some kind of cloth and then smash them, but your way worked good. All the best and happy cracking. 👍👍
Did you know that the black material that is on the outside of a walnut is a neurotoxin to fish in her survival situation you can block off the downstream Of a Brook and take the black pasty substance and introduce it upstream and you will have a meal
Yeah, I did the same with a hammer when I first discovered them as a kid too! Since I had one beside my driveway, I thought I better figure out some way to deal with them! Thanks for stopping by and checking it out!👍😊
So sorry that happened to you! Had a few that sure didn’t tickle but nothing like that. Wonder if easing up on the screw a bit more would solve the issue. Shouldn’t be a lot of effort when squeezing to crack it. If it is then that high energy will reflect back and is likely to do some damage. Maybe the nuts you have are much more hard and dense. The ones I have tend to have some space around the nut meat but have come across others that were much more challenging. Thanks and take care!👍😊
If you find the resistance too much, keep loosening the screw and trying it. The sweet spot is just a hair tighter than where you can close the grips on it without cracking it. It does take practice to get the feel of it. Good luck!
Thanks Ray!👍😊 It’s quite an operation they do commercially down in Missouri where it’s all mechanized. The company buys them by the weight with hulls on at stations all around the midwest from people who gather them and bring them in, sometimes by the pickup load! They process the shells also and sell it as specialty sandblasting material due to the hardness of it. Apparently this video blew up this past fall with over 10k views now which is more than all my videos combined! Whodda thunk?! Take care and all the best!
@@kepvalley congrats on the views it's a great video thanks for the info quite a process I'm sure there not cheap up here but very tasty HAGDay cyaindavids
@@kepvalley I added another comment with a third brand actually I think from Quebec. I don't get the impression they've been marketed well yet. I still think there remains an even better way to get nut meats out of Black Walnuts waiting to be discovered --and I'm not talking about the ultra expensive commercial crackers. Ethan
The flavour is described as being more bold and earthy than the commercial english walnuts. I like eating them but some people prefer them just in baking. Thanks for stopping by and checking it out! Take care!
My black walnuts do degrade. I tried cracking dehulled black walnuts that were dry and could have been one year old. They were black and tar like and inedible. Does my tree have some disease? It looks healthy. Great video. Liked and subbed.
Thanks!👍😊 Tough to say why they were like that. Usually about a quarter to a third of all the nuts I harvested were duds. Too small nutmeat or none at all. After hulling and during the washing process, they get put in water. Sinkers are the good ones and floaters are not. Never found a bad one after going through that elimination process. Another thing I did was after washing was completed, I put them out in the basement to dry which at that time of year, the woodstove fires sped up the process. Good luck with your crop this year!
i can just see a little ole lady or a kid trying to use vice grips or an old man like me not enough strength .thats why we use a hammer and a cloth wrped around them i have cracked a zillion that way
You can loosen the thumb screw so that it takes less effort but I understand it still may not work for everyone. Keep crackin’ away if what you’re doing works for you! Thanks for watching and commenting! 👍😊
