I've cracked about a bushel (pre-shelled) of black walnuts with this nut cracker for each of the last few years. I've been pretty satisfied, although if I lost this one, I'd probably try a different design (probably more expensive). It has enough leverage to comfortably crack the black walnuts from most of the trees I've tried, but it's really not adequate for the harder to crack black walnuts I've tried.

The Nutcracker - 1993. On Christmas Eve, a little girl named Marie (Cohen) falls asleep after a party at her home and dreams herself (or does she?) into a fantastic.

I'd score this cracker high for the size of black walnut nut pieces I get. It's a very solid nut cracker, and after a few years of use it's still as good as new, and I expect it will last for generations (except probably for the plastic covers on the legs, which I'm sure are necessary to keep from seriously scratching up the table where I normally crack nuts -- they've lasted a few years just fine, though.) I would say the way the handle comes down right next to the cracking part is a design flaw.

It's tricky to use without occasionally mashing the knuckles on the lever hand. Where the lever comes down also makes it difficult to use your other hand to hold the nut in position and to kind of catch the pieces as they crack. This cracker is probably better than a standard hand nut cracker for pecans, but I definitely prefer a much cheaper plunger style cracker for pecans, so I wouldn't recommend this cracker at all for pecans. Unlike black walnuts, it scores poorly for the size of pecan nut pieces. For cracking American (much smaller than standard) hazelnuts I prefer a pair of vise grips.

This cracker only gets so small on the narrow end, which limits its usefulness for cracking small nuts and for re-cracking small pieces of nuts that haven't fully released their meat. Bought this for my husband (and me) for Christmas this past year.

Our 2 Walnut trees were very prolific this fall and our old nut crackers were not going to cut it. Very impressed with the quality and stability of this item. Very little pressure needed and very good control. The handle was a little rough on our hands until my husband cut a finger off an old leather glove and tapped it to the handle.

Problem solved. Some sort of covering for the handle would be a good idea for future production otherwise this is a great product and will be getting a lot of use in the coming years. All I can say is WOW! Digital Soccer Draw Serial Killers more.

Had the nutcracker out of the box and cracking black walnuts in just a couple of minutes. Even with the stiff, sore hands, it was almost effortless. Cracked three nuts in approximately 45 seconds. What a difference between this and the old hammer technique. My only suggestion is to round off the corners or add some kind of cover to the end of the handle. I'm especially glad to see it is American made, and am recommending this product (and your website) to everyone!

This nut cracker is very well made and smartly designed. I haven't used it to crack hazelnuts or English walnuts, but it might be perfect for those nuts. I have used it for pecans, black walnuts, and hickories. It has more than enough power for pecans, and I like the high degree of control you have compared to other designs, but despite that great control the shape of the metal where it holds the nut in place leads to almost every pecan meat getting crushed by the time the shell is cracked.

We still use one of the cheap plunger type crackers (which leave plenty of room for improvement) for pecans even though we have this more expensive cracker. The design is excellent for black walnuts and hickories, but it needs to be a little bigger with a little more leverage to comfortably crack most black walnuts and hickories.

It does great with the easier cracking end of the spectrum, but I have to really muscle some black walnuts (which doesn't feel especially safe) and some black walnuts I haven't been able to crack at all with this device. Outstanding product! I bought it to shell black walnuts (2 large boxes hulled and dried). After getting used to it and a little work on technique I was able to crack the walnuts quickly and completely. Even my little niece (4 yrs old) was able to crack black walnuts and help with the processing after a little practice. The only problem I had was the thicker shells would really fly when cracked.

I solved this by simply using the nutcracker in the cleaned delivery box with a little tape to keep the flaps down. I work in manufacturing, so I thought I would buy a slightly more industrial nutcracker than the little soldiers and squirrels I see everywhere.