How to shuck walnuts?

[treemandan]

Are these Black Walnuts, or English Walnuts?

Black. English are easier and taste better. They are what they sell in the stores. I don't remember what a black walnut taste like but as kids we had busheles of black walnuts. Let them dry and it wasn't that bad if I recall correctly.

 

[treemandan]

Then, of course, there is always someone on CL selling black walnuts. Sometimes they are free but you have to pick the from the ground yourself.

 

[TreeTopKid]

Black. English are easier and taste better. They are what they sell in the stores. I don't remember what a black walnut taste like but as kids we had busheles of black walnuts. Let them dry and it wasn't that bad if I recall correctly.

The reason I ask is because the husks may be more valuable than the nuts. I don't know if you know this the Native Indians used to use the husks for fishing. You fill a sack with husks, and throw it into a swim of water that contains the fish, and they float to the surface. The practice is now illegal (I've learned since my original post) but it could be a useful survival tactic!

Just wanted to share that. I'd love to try it. Good job I don't have a Walnut tree.

 

[Rookie1]

We have Black and wifes family used them more for desserts than for eating alone. FIL says its too hard to get whole nut out of shell. I forgot to menion the dye that stains your skin. A couple years ago newspaper had article about old man that made ink out of rotting husks.

 

[treemandan]

The reason I ask is because the husks may be more valuable than the nuts. I don't know if you know this the Native Indians used to use the husks for fishing. You fill a sack with husks, and throw it into a swim of water that contains the fish, and they float to the surface. The practice is now illegal (I've learned since my original post) but it could be a useful survival tactic!

Just wanted to share that. I'd love to try it. Good job I don't have a Walnut tree.

Interesting.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

A couple years ago nespaper had article about old man that made ink out of rotting husks.

Oak galls are supposed to make even better ink. Now that sounds tedious, cutting and boiling all those little galls!

 

[Little Monkey]

just back from local river where i threw in a couple sacks of husks,
not sure about fish but two guys that were swimming there look awful p***ed
off and inky brown, :monkey:

 

[TreeTopKid]

just back from local river where i threw in a couple sacks of husks,
not sure about fish but two guys that were swimming there look awful p***ed
off and inky brown, :monkey:

LMAO

 

[(WLL)]

The reason I ask is because the husks may be more valuable than the nuts. I don't know if you know this the Native Indians used to use the husks for fishing. You fill a sack with husks, and throw it into a swim of water that contains the fish, and they float to the surface. The practice is now illegal (I've learned since my original post) but it could be a useful survival tactic!

Just wanted to share that. I'd love to try it. Good job I don't have a Walnut tree.

true stuff:agree2:

 

[treeslayer]

2 tidbits for ya,

I know some old school trappers that boil the traps in walnuts to get rid of human smell.

and walnut husks are used as a medium in "sand" blasting operations for fine cleaning.

 

[TreeTopKid]

2 tidbits for ya,

I know some old school trappers that boil the traps in walnuts to get rid of human smell.

and walnut husks are used as a medium in "sand" blasting operations for fine cleaning.

Man! I'm going to start saving those husks. You can break into a someones under pant draw and put skid marks on all their underwear with one single husk! : )LOL

 

[Rookie1]

just back from local river where i threw in a couple sacks of husks,
not sure about fish but two guys that were swimming there look awful p***ed
off and inky brown, :monkey:

Thats funny

 

[treeslayer]

Man! I'm going to start saving those husks. You can break into a someones under pant draw and put skid marks on all their underwear with one single husk! : )LOL

dude. that's just plain nasty.


















how did you get in? I knew they weren't mine.:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[pdqdl]

My research revealed !

JPS: as always, you're on target. A corn sheller seems to be the most popular suggestion that I found for a machine that would do the job, and I hadn't heard of the coffee sheller. Thanks.

This thread seems to have digressed, and nobody offered another source for a walnut skinner. The reason for my inquiry is that my father in law is already tired of driving on the hulls with the car. So that kills that suggestion, as we already knew about driving on the hulls.

Other methods of shucking the husks: build a commercial shucker with a car tire and a surround-screen. power it with some sort of motor, and you get rapid action walnut husking.

Another old guy published an article on his methods of processing walnuts. He stated that he did best with a knife held with a vise: cut the equator, twist both hemispheres loose, then toss the shell into a bucket of water for washing later. No mess, and the halves separated from the shell easily once cut with a knife.

In my research, I found that there IS a market for the hulls of the black walnuts: apparently, they are much sought after by the oil industry, both as an abrasive and for some other purpose I don't remember. And they are popular as an abrasive in general for other industries.

The oak gall ink is supposed to be blacker than the walnut ink, and the formula for cooking ink up was rather simple: mash up the rotten husks (or galls) boil 'em up real good, filter the mess, then boil it down to 1/2 the volume. More ink than you need for several years.

Thanks for all the input, guys. It's been fun.

Now: does anybody know of any brand of machine that was made to shuck the husks off walnuts?

 

[Rookie1]

The partys over.

 

[pdqdl]

I figured after the skid mark comment, this thread needed to get back on track.

 

[woodchux]

 

[Little Monkey]

ok seriously, i collected walnuts as a kid and would collect about 100lbs at a time. to remove the shellls i would just dump them into a big barrel , stir them up with a big stick to bruise the husks a bit and ad water, after about a week or two the husks would soften as they were starting to rot and a would power hose them in the barrel to blast the husk off, then i would pour them out on the ground and pick out the nuts, this is ok for the home bit not really commercial, :monkey:

 

[(WLL)]

The reason I ask is because the husks may be more valuable than the nuts. I don't know if you know this the Native Indians used to use the husks for fishing. You fill a sack with husks, and throw it into a swim of water that contains the fish, and they float to the surface. The practice is now illegal (I've learned since my original post) but it could be a useful survival tactic!

Just wanted to share that. I'd love to try it. Good job I don't have a Walnut tree.

use fresh green husks and slap em of the ground ta bruise them after you sack em up. the fish will be poisoned/stunted/drugged soon after they start nibbling. I'm pretty sure you can poison yourself by eating poisoned food you would be safer to just eat the nuts. i was told this method of fishing was outlawed cause the fish don't recover very well and most of em die. you will harm every fish that takes a nibble so hope your hungry!

 

[pinemartin]

cement mixer and a little water. almost commercial speed but a redneck approach, worked just fine for me