I did mine by hand. Once I learned a great technique it became quite easy and fun. It takes a very short time and I husked and cleaned over one hundred in less than 6 hrs with long breaks.
You'r on the right track! I have been using a mixer for about 5 years. BUT! The simple and clean way is to walk around with a rubber glove on and step on the nut (green or black hull) then pull hull off and toss only the nut in your collection bag. Now your ready for the mixer and water (no need to cut or modify a perfectly good mixer). Add water and rock and roll for about 15 minutes (i also toss a few #2 limestone rocks in. Rinse and repeat if you want them cleaner. dump them out on some fabric mesh and let dry off before storing.
Your way is too much work lol. I don’t have time to walk around on each nut. And, my mixer has a plate to cover the hole when I’m using it for concrete! This way, you literally never have to handle a black hull and you never get dirty at all. And, you probably shouldn’t add rocks. They will crack nuts which ruins them. The nuts are heavy enough to clean themselves in the mixer.
Matt, I got my mixer modified yesterday and put it to work today. Works like a charm! I also took the piece that I cut out of the mixer and made it so I can bolt it back on when I need to mix some concrete, maybe you did too. I'm sure the major walnut production companies have a better machine for taking the hulls off but for us guys back in the woods this is the cats meow.
@@mattmustin1860 I also took a piece of metal roofing and made a drain chute under the mixer to where I put the bucket of the tractor to haul off the black pudding.
@mattmustin1860 what i want to know is how you crack them. While my mom was still with us, each one of four kids got a quart jar full of black walnut nutmeats for Christmas. She hulled and cracked a gallon of black walnuts, and was so good at it that most of the nuts were FULL INTACT HALVES. She did it with a hammer on an old stump. I am weak and lack the patience. How do you crack them?
Very clever....I love your box you made to start them. Awesome, I have fallen in love with these black walnuts. My dog dot mites, and fleas and ticks in Virginia. I made this tincture and covered him in it like a sheep/ dog DIP.....gone in 4 days.....it works....very exhausting experience!
Yes. I am just getting ready to use it, but right now it is behind a bunch of equipment, but I will keep your request and as soon as I get it out, I will send you a picture.@@vickilootens4061
I don't know how you could say that using an electric powered corn sheller to remove the hulls, not the shells, of large quantities of black walnuts is Dumb. Then after they are hulled, I then use an electric powered cracker that cracks the shells. Really a time saver, @@77thTrombone ,
I would be thrilled to have a cement mixer for next year. I dont have trees but they are always given away free if we want to to pick them up. I did. But my hands are ugly ugly for a while now even though I wore gloves. Next year though...
Great video, Matt! And outstanding fabricating / welding on that mod to the mixer. Your storage crib is also outstanding... May I suggest lining the crib with screen wire? I fear field mice might get through the gaps in your slats. Trust me, speaking from much experience, they can get through a 1/4 inch gap. Again, GREAT VIDEO and a great set-up!
Also, i think, if you collected all that waist that fell out of the mixer, dried it out, it could be used as natural insectaside, around foundations of houses.....bugs seem to hate it!
I only found them 3 months ago in West Virginia. The smell is intoxicating, the medicinal uses are endless, I haven't tasted one yet! So many people hate them.....I'm going to go clean some yards!
Interesting thought! I’m not sure. They do seem to roll and “drop” at about the right time to get maximum carnage lol. Maybe someday I’ll change it up and see what happens!
Can you harvest the walnuts once they turn completely black? I had a bunch of green ones that I processed and when I opened one of the really black ones, it looked like tar inside and had worms so I threw that one and the rest of the really black ones away.
Oh BTW don’t collect all the nuts, my squirrel friends have been planting them for me for years and now I have at least 20 more trees dropping their fruit…yahooo It took about 8-10 years to bear fruit here in NE Ohio
Just narrow enough not to allow the cleaned nuts to fall through right? All these years I never knew lol , guess been to busy dealing with the honeybees. Now to get the grand kids to help pick up the nuts😂
