doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thin Shell Walnut

We'd like to hear more 'bout the old girlfriend...Geo

While I think the girlfriend's skills were overstated, as to the black walnuts.
Throw them out in the lane and drive over them until the husks are off, then gather and crack them, a sturdy pliers will do. Don't expect much.. Lots of work, little reward! A job best done in the depth of winter, involving alcohol, boredom and resolve.
Generally we turned the sows out in the grove in the fall, pigs can shell them nicely.
And indeed, black walnut will make some great stocks!

Chief

This has to be the best discussion I've ever heard about the difference between the walnuts. I agree with Geo.

,


Perhaps your girlfriend�s technique could involve a vice of some sort, but the cracking in the garage probably involved a vise. If I am wrong, please post pics.

Cut to the chase, what's more to discuss, how about pictures for the fellows?

in the deep south there was also another use for walnuts...whether black or english (i think...).

the husks were placed into burlap bags and securely tied up, then beaten (or driven over by vehicles/tractors). when weighted down and thrown into a pond or slue (non moving water...) the chemicals in the husks form a seal on the top of the water, which stops the transfer of oxygen into the water. it will force every fish, turtle, snake, etc. to the surface so they can be harvested, killed, or simply cleaned out prior to restocking with game fish.

the substance is rotenone, and can be purchased in commercial form at many farm supply stores. it is derived from the husks. i have heard my dad tell of rotenoning after walnut harvest time in louisiana in the 1920s.

but in truth, that's not as interesting as the story about the girlfriends walnut cracking skills....

Lacking another option on the farm we would throw them out into the road and let the cars and trucks get the husk off the shells. Then put gem into a burlap bag and dry the in the attic. Shelling them was labor intensive to say the least but the nut meat was good in baked goods.

The easiest way to clean black walnuts is to grab them with big pair of pliers and run them through your bandsaw. They make this too:

https://www.walnutsaw.com/how_it_works.html

Some of my fondest memories are my grandmothers cooking, black walnuts were her favorite nut. She used them in cookies and cakes. Her house burned in the 70s and the fire killed the one walnut tree, leaving all the pecan trees. I built my house there and would have been glad to trade a pecan tree for the walnut. That walnutsaw is neat,
Mike

Another use for the tree is that green leaves from it, sprinkled all in a dog pen, will run fleas far away.

I once sterilized a small lake with rotenone, before restocking it. It's an amazing substance. There is a common misconception that it is some type of poison. It is not. What happens is that, when dispersed through the water, which happens extremely quickly, it coats the gills of fish and other creatures with gills, and they quickly suffocate because they can no longer remove oxygen from the water. Best way there is to rid a lake, or pond, of shiners before restocking.

SRH