Homemade “Walnut Harvest” System

2015 - Volume #39, Issue #6, Page #07

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Using recycled materials, John Lubinski of Plainview, Minn., developed a walnut harvesting system that he says works fast and cost very little to build.
  “I have only 5 walnut trees on my farm, but that’s enough to make a lot of walnuts. I try to recycle everything I can and keep things simple.”
  His walnut shucking system includes an 8-in. wide, long-handled “putter”. It’s used to shove walnuts into a 10-in. wide , long-handled “dust pan” which lays flat on the ground. Nuts are dumped into a 5-gal. pail and a drill-powered shucker is then used inside the pail to knock the shells off.
  The shucked nuts are then dumped onto a 6-ft. long, 30-in. wide screen on top of three 55-gal. barrels. Lubinski rolls the nuts around by hand to knock off any remaining shell pieces, which fall through the screen’s 1/2-in. openings and onto the ground. Any nuts with shells that can’t be removed by hand go back into the pail for reshucking.
  The walnut shucker works somewhat like a powered paint stirrer, and consists of a 25-in. length of 1/2-in. dia. metal rod inside 5/8-in. dia. conduit that serves as a guard. One end of the rod is fitted with a 3-piece stirring device made from 4 3/4-in. long, 1-in. wide, 1/8-in. thick sharpened metal blades that have 1-in. high, 1/8-in. thick metal “ears” welded onto their ends. The 3 blades are set at a 33-degree angle to each other, and as they rotate they cut through the shells.
  “As I move the shucker up and down inside the pail, the blades slice off the walnut shells. It looks like boiling water bubbling up inside a heated pot,” says Lubinski. “I can shuck a 5-gal. pail full of walnuts in less than a minute.”
  Lubinski even makes use of the leftover shells. “I throw them into another pail and pour water on them. Then I run the resulting juice through a filter. It makes a great walnut stain for wood projects,” he notes.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, John Lubinski, 23759 East Co. Rd. 8, Plainview, Minn. 55964 (ph 507 534-2189; JJLubinski@yahoo.com).

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Homemade “Walnut Harvest” System CROPS New Techniques Using recycled materials John Lubinski of Plainview Minn developed a walnut harvesting system that he says works fast and cost very little to build “I have only 5 walnut trees on my farm but that’s enough to make a lot of walnuts I try to recycle everything I can and keep things simple ” His walnut shucking system includes an 8-in wide long-handled “putter” It’s used to shove walnuts into a 10-in wide long-handled “dust pan” which lays flat on the ground Nuts are dumped into a 5-gal pail and a drill-powered shucker is then used inside the pail to knock the shells off The shucked nuts are then dumped onto a 6-ft long 30-in wide screen on top of three 55-gal barrels Lubinski rolls the nuts around by hand to knock off any remaining shell pieces which fall through the screen’s 1/2-in openings and onto the ground Any nuts with shells that can’t be removed by hand go back into the pail for reshucking The walnut shucker works somewhat like a powered paint stirrer and consists of a 25-in length of 1/2-in dia metal rod inside 5/8-in dia conduit that serves as a guard One end of the rod is fitted with a 3-piece stirring device made from 4 3/4-in long 1-in wide 1/8-in thick sharpened metal blades that have 1-in high 1/8-in thick metal “ears” welded onto their ends The 3 blades are set at a 33-degree angle to each other and as they rotate they cut through the shells “As I move the shucker up and down inside the pail the blades slice off the walnut shells It looks like boiling water bubbling up inside a heated pot ” says Lubinski “I can shuck a 5-gal pail full of walnuts in less than a minute ” Lubinski even makes use of the leftover shells “I throw them into another pail and pour water on them Then I run the resulting juice through a filter It makes a great walnut stain for wood projects ” he notes Contact: FARM SHOW Followup John Lubinski 23759 East Co Rd 8 Plainview Minn 55964 ph 507 534-2189; JJLubinski@yahoo com

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