The equipent consists of small plates shaped to conform to segments of the nut. Each plate has a 2 foot metal handle sticking out the back.

Glue the plates to the nut, surrounding it on all sides.

When the glue has set, simply manipulate the levers to remove the shell segments neatly.

Depending on your preference, either unglue the shell from the plates, or discard them.
-- pocmloc, Mar 07 2012

Glue and iron filings onto nutshells. http://www.google.com/patents/US4504505
[AusCan531, Mar 10 2012]

This is eminently practical. [+]
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 07 2012


Oh hang on. Some nuts have a waxy outer surface that won't glue well - a small motorized nut-sanding accessory would be a boon.

Oh and other nuts have shells that tend to de- laminate, but this could be solved by multiple iterations, a la graphene.

But apart from those two points, eminently practical.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 07 2012


Just don't eat those nuts then. I wonder if 2 feet is long enough?
-- pocmloc, Mar 08 2012


My bun is for [bigsleep]'s comment. Though talk about delaminate - you wouldn't get more than a tiny sliver of material, and good luck gluing the wet parts.
-- Worldgineer, Mar 08 2012


This posting gave me an idea which turns out to be baked in the real world (or at least the Patent Office) [link]. This guy puts glue onto the outside of the nutshells, sprinkles them with iron filings then runs the whole lot through a conventional nut-cracking machine. Magnets then separate the shells from the nutmeats.
-- AusCan531, Mar 10 2012


I've sometimes wondered how the commercial producers do it, but been too lazy to find out.
-- Alterother, Mar 10 2012



random, halfbakery