I sent an email to Gerald Gardner about his current health and whether or not he still sells nutcrackers. His daughter gave up on the business. PA nut growers was interested but apparently did not offer enough for him to sell the patterns and business. He had covid and pneumonia nearly 3 years ago and his lungs are in bad condition. Regarding black walnuts, he says Sparrow still outproduces all others he has grown. I’d agree but with an exception I’ve found a couple of others which are similarly productive in my climate.
When I visited him @22 years ago, he drove me to a friend’s farm, a Dr. Roberts who was planting several acres of walnuts. Today, Dr. Roberts is struggling to get much production with a combination of predators, weather, and low producing varieties limiting crops. He went commercial with shakers and harvesters so quite an operation.
Gerald is about to turn 91 in a couple of weeks which IMO is quite an achievement. He has always been helpful and generous with his time and knowledge.
I’m looking for a machine that cracks black walnuts nearly as quickly as they’re poured in.
No manually positioning and cracking nuts one at a time. A machine that improves productivity and reduces effort substantially, so that producing black walnut meats for sale from wild trees is economically sensible on scale of about 0.1% of what Hammons does.
Such a machine would ideally sit on a tabletop, work using household electricity, be capable of processing several hundred pounds of cured nuts per day and cost a couple thousand dollars.
Deer will hoover up pecans, which are hickories, and I’ve heard of them eating bitternut hickory nuts, which often have shells as thin as some pecans.
That said, I’ve examined rumen contents on hundreds of deer, and have never seen a hickory nut or walnut in there.
I have a couple of shagbark and shagbark- bitternut hybrids that have shells as thin as many pecans, and could be cracked in a little piston-type pecan cracker, like a Duke’s or Reed’s Rocket, but even those are at risk of breaking due to the hardness of shell.
Detailed Description
Hand cranked nutcracker cracks more than one at a time. Easy adjustment for English walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans and almonds. Heavy gauge steel and bronze bearing construction. Large 10" hopper, will crack nuts nearly as fast as hopper is filled. A Suite Nutcracker can crack 50 lbs. of Hazelnuts (90% whole) in about an hour.
The shipping charge is $30.00. The weight is 16 lbs. This nutcracker will be sent to you directly from the craftsman who makes them. If only ordering a nutcracker, please select the nutcrackers only shipping method to have the shipping charges calculated properly. Order before September to beat the rush. Long delivery times after September are possible (2 to 2.5 months).
