Fortunately, I had put a dozen nuts in pots of earth & was able to select a decent-looking seedling to plant in 2005.
There followed some years of rapid growth but, of course, no nuts at first.
Last year, it produced for the first time - exactly 100 nuts & we were as pleased as proud parents!
This year - 253 beautiful big nuts.
But disaster - they are all too big for any of our nutcrackers!
No argument about the thumbscrew device above - they simply won't enter.
Less obvious for the ordinary 2-leg cracker - you can insert the nut, but the legs are too far apart to squeeze efficiently & crack the thick shell.
A quick check with a Vernier gauge showed we had nuts up to 38mm diameter.
So I looked on internet for nutcrackers for that size & was surprised to find nothing, except industrial or bench-top devices.
I remembered a likely-looking ratchet affair, which was probably the "Crackerjack".
But that is now a collector's item.
There seems to be a copy still on sale, but customer reviews show it is very fragile:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B000YJ79DI/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
So, after hesitating about using a hammer, I am now using - a Mole wrench!
Not very elegant on the coffee table, but extremely effective.
It makes light work of the toughest shells & does not go on to crush the nuts.
What we need now is a "pretty" table-top Mole wrench...
Some quicker method of size adjustment would be good too - the screw is a bit time-consuming.
Parting thot: "When all's said and done, all roads lead to the same end. So it's not so much which road you take, as how you take it." - Charles de Lint
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