Strong Nut Crackers

A neighbour asked me if I could make some nut crackers to shell her macadamia nuts, she had bought a pair which worked well but were a bit flimsy and hideously expensive.

So using them as a pattern and some offcuts of 1/4 inch flat bar I made these

This is 1/4 thick bright mild steel 1 inch wide

For each pair I needed 2x 10 inch lengths and 2 x 2.5 inch lengths

I put each handle in a vice approx 4 inches along its length, then using a large adjustable spanner and some brute force and ignorance put a 90 degree twist in each one.

To be honest I thought that I was going to need to heat them up for this, but they twisted remarkably easily.

I drilled an 8mm hole in the end of each handle and shaped the ends round on the grinder (you can file if you don't have a grinder)

I also filed a semi circular recess on each side, one larger than the other for different sized nuts, the edges of these were sharpened to allow better nut cracking.

I drilled 2x 8mm holes in these and then shaped on the grinder/file

Bolted the 4 pieces together with M8 nyloc nuts, bolts and washers.

Don't do them up too tight as the handles need to be free to move,

It took just over an hour to make 3 sets