We have a few macnut trees and got tired of letting the rats have all the nuts so we started collecting them. For a while we'd spend an hour or so with hammers cracking a few for gifts for family but it semed cheaper to just buy them so I started thinking about making a cracker.
I had the principle down but without busting out the chop saw and welder it wouldn't happen. Weighed my time against the cost of this tool and it won!
Overall it works very well. Once I get a rhythm going, I can crack a nut a second (or so), usually without breaking the meat up too badly...I said "Usually".....heh heh.
A couple of things though:
* both the upper and lower "jaws" (where one is supposed to put the nut for treatment) are dished so a round nut like a macnut gets squeezed over a large surface area, which, as we all know from trying to squeeze eggs, the strength of a sphere is in its shape and the trick is to apply a lot of force in a small area.....soooo I ended up making a pin- like piece which fit in the lower jaw and that worked better.
* the other thing I've found is to use the edges of the cupped areas to crack the shell, so I kinda hold the nut part-way in, then work then handle.
I've probably cracked 15-20# of nuts thus far and it seems like the unit will last. Good job!
Submitted by jamilks on 08/04/2014 06:20:55 AM.