Corn Sheller really work on Walnuts?

[Brad_bb]

Today I spent 4 hours hulling black walnuts, with a friend helping me.  We only filled a 5 gallon bucket with hulled nuts.  I have at least 100-150 gallons of unhulled nuts left.  Of course unhulled takes up a lot more space than hulled.  Is there a better way to hull them?  Does an antique corn sheller really work well?  Faster? Do they get clogged too easily?  Which type is best?  Is there an adjustment for size?  I have some very large walnuts, and medium sized ones, and smalls I don't bother with.   I can't find any youtube video showing a corn sheller being used to hull black walnuts, though people have written that you can.

[Jeff]

http://www.lawn-gardening-tools.com/welcome-forestry-forum-members--foresrty-forum.html

[beenthere]

I'm going to an auction Thursday and may just pick one up there. But I recall several fall days as a boy picking up black walnuts and running them through the corn sheller. This was the antique kind that would shell on ear of corn at a time. Also, lay them out on the drive and drive over them a few times. Put them in a 5 gal bucket and hose them down good, blasting the shucks off. Lay them out to dry some and then lay them out under cover to dry for the winter. Even after the corn sheller, they need to be washed off good with the hose and left to dry. The attic was a good place to spread them out on old newspaper.

This YouTube sheller was very close to the one we used. But we did eventually outfit it with a small electric motor.



When the pulpy shucks get mushy (and they will pretty quick) then a pair of rubber gloves works to just hand shuck them for the water wash.

Friend of mine would dump a bushel or so in his cement mixer with some rough rocks and water. Let them tumble around in there for spell. Then wash them off and dry them.

[Brad_bb]

Jeff, no hulling device on there.

Beenthere, your vid shows corn being shelled, which there are plenty of vids of that on youtube, but none showing the same type of sheller being used on Walnuts.  I need to know how well that type works with walnuts, do they clog up, how fast do they work etc. 

Today I had Nitrile gloves, with knit gloves over them and was hulling by hand with a knife and twisting the hulls off.  I have a lot of hulls that are softening already. 

The Cement mixer is an interesting idea for cleaning the hulled nuts (tumbling after they dry a bit to get them cleaned up).

[beenthere]

Just use your imagination on the nuts instead of corn. It works, trust me. About one  or more nuts at a time.

Here is another video of another method. A bit more redneck but I've heard of others doing it..just had not seen it.

[SwampDonkey]

For drying butternuts we used beenthere's method, in the attic. Butternut husk is paper thin so it doesn't take long to break down and dry, we just rubbed it off.

[Cedarman]

We have used the pickup truck method for years.  Works like charm.  We have the nuts in 5 gallon buckets and pour the bucket slowly into the trough.  We use a sheet of 5V tin for the chute.  Keep the nuts single file.  About a bucket a minute.  Have to rake the nuts from in front of the tire to make room. Then the fun begins picking the nuts from the hulls.
Make sure the truck is well blocked.

[Chuck White]

Your garage air compressor with a blower nozzle on it will work too, only not quite so fast as some of the other methods!

I just went out to try it and I husked 50 walnuts in 12-13 minutes.

NOTE: Wear leather gloves to protect against the high-pressure air and a face shield or safety goggles to protect against flying particles.  Hold the nut out at "about" arms length.

I just held the walnut in my left hand and put the nozzle against the hull and pressed the lever and the husk popped, then I just moved the nozzle around and then took the nut out of the husk and blew off the remaining husk off of the nut.

Worked pretty good, but if you wanted to do a lot of nuts, it would probably seem to take forever.

[Brad_bb]

Yeah, that's why I'm asking about the corn sheller.  I have a lot of nuts to do, and if they work, and if I can connect an electric motor to it....then I would just have to feed them in.  But seeing as no one here seems to use a sheller, and there are no youtube vids of people doing that, I'm starting to think that the corn sheller must not speed up the process, or be effecient enough because no one is using it to hull walnuts?

[Cedarman]

The hand crank corn sheller will work great and it is quick. We used it a lot when my brother and I were kids. It takes 2 people though, one to crank and the other to feed the nuts in the top.  Just as fast as you can drop them in, they will grind the husk off and spit it out the bottom.  Still have to sort and get the nuts.

[beenthere]

.............I'm starting to think that the corn sheller must not speed up the process, or be effecient enough because no one is using it to hull walnuts?

Or...that no one has a corn sheller. As well, maybe the rest just don't have an interest in shucking black walnuts.

If you saw a video of it working, would you go out and buy a corn sheller?

Are you going to crack the black walnuts for the walnut meats?

Here is a method using a hay crimper, an old ironing board and some ingenuity.

[Jasperfield]

The single-ear, hand-cranked corn sheller is effective and quite consistent. I've used one for several years and no longer look for other methods to remove husks.

If motorized, I believe it would as effective than anything on the market today.

[SwampDonkey]

Any corn shellers on lawn and garden?

[Cedarman]

Hay crimper for walnuts, American ingenuity is very much alive and well.
Upside down even.

[Don_Papenburg]

I use an old Marsailles corn sheller . It has a wood infeed table that my dad made . I fill it with walnuts and start cranking with one hand and start pushing walnuts in with the other . I use a push stick as sometimes a couple walnuts will jamb the enterance , the stick makes the reluctant walnuts submit to there fate.  It is a very fast efficiant operation.  I do this on the concrete drive . use a stiff push broom to seperate the hulls from nuts . I put down a couple of 2xs to make a nut corral .
A five gallon bucket takes about two min. to husk
You guys realy wash them? I just sun dry mine and then step off any dry husk that might be left and put them in a bucket  for use later.

[Brad_bb]

I spent all day hulling walnuts by hand with my friend.  We washed and hung up 14 gallons of hulled nuts so far.  I think it's too late for a corn sheller this season.  A lot of the nuts are getting quite soft.  Some are still on the ground getting mushy.  I will see if I can get a huller before the next nut season, and make sure it's in good working order, and maybe set up with an electric motor.

[beenthere]

Another neat trick I learned looking at YouTube videos was the use of side cutters to dismember the walnut shell after the initial cracking. Tried it out and it really works slick. More control of where the shell cracks and less smashed nut meats.

Good that you have your walnuts shucked Brad. I have a couple bushel to pick up that I've been driving over the last couple weeks and letting the rain and sun do the rest. Now just pick 'em up and dust them off.

[SwampDonkey]

I have a few here Brad, but not 14 gallons. Some are still on the trees. They don't get as big up here as down in VA. If I ever have a lot of butternuts, I sure would like to try one of those nut crackers.

[Brad_bb]

Yeah, I still have twice as much that are not hulled yet, and this is all from one tree!  Not sure how much more I'll get done.  Depends on if I get volunteer help again.  I must be nuts.

[Don_Papenburg]

hey you are only about anhour away . Load your pickup up with unhulled walnuts we can hull them in a short order. Let me know.