Customer Reviews

Kenkel Hardshell Nutcracker

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

i recieved my new and much desired kenkel this year, ive been cracking our black walnuts with a hammer and mad as the world about having tny fragments of shell in the nuts every time i wanted to use them
this product does as it says it handled the 100plus pounds of nuts we crack just fine, only one thing, we mounted it on a board and some of the walnuts you practically have to lay on the handle to break them, and we rigged up a kind of wall around it to collect the stray flying bits of shell not part of a problem with the machine, just an fyi on how to use it :D

there is one slight drawback , the nut holder is attatched to the stem with a u shaped bolt which after about 20-30 nuts will work its way out, its not fastened in place with anything, i assume thats for cleaning purposes , so its just something you have to keep an eye on during use

One must supply the wood for its base. It takes a few attempts to learn the correct amount of pressure to crack versus smash the nut shell. We had our first hickory nut bread last night. Delicious. It still takes a fair amount of work to recover a whole nutmeat - may be impossible but the nutcracker at least does the outer shell job for you.

I bought one of these about a year ago. Its' an American invented product but don't know if it's still made here. It will crack Black walnuts, and Macadamia nuts too. But with mine shell pieces fly around. If you wall mounted it you could cover the nut anvils with a towel which would help with flying shells. I use mine in a cardboard box with three sides and place a towel over the top on one end of the box, plus a folded one under the handle side. That does help keep shells from flying so far. I think the shells flying around are caused by the anvil cups being a little small and not lining up perfectly straight with each other. I recently bought a Master Nutcracker (It's American made and invented too) which cracks the nuts horizontally and isn't as bad about flying shells. Its' anvils are cupped larger and do line up perfectly straight. If you want you can lay a towel over the nut and anvils, or like me cup you hand around them Which prevents any shells flying. It also has geared teeth and so it's easy to crack a nut with. I like it the better of the two, but the Kenkel does everything they say it will do.

excellent product - highly recommend it to everybody - wish i had it years ago - nuts crack faster the more experienced you get using it - find that adjusting the top screw so that you only have to press a couple of inches works best for cracking and not crushing the nuts - mainly using it for hickory & black walnuts

Bought for a son whose yard is full of black walnuts, great investment, leaves nice large pieces instead of crumbs like the hammer method:)

My Black Walnut trees produce more than I can give away, and now I can open them and eat the fruit instead of trying to give away future trees to people who do not have space in their yards for more trees...this is a great solution and tasty too.