HISTORY:
My wife & I love nuts, particularly Walnuts and Maca's (not the food!) While in UK we picked up this beautiful, very well uniquely designed nut cracker. Why unique? This nut cracker uses a rachet system, squeeze the handle and the centre arm moves upwards upwards and beyond, crushing anything in it's path!
But it's not only about the design, these rachet nut crackers are FAR easier to use than other types, especially the 'squeeze me baby' type ... in the past my wife would give me the nut cracker as it was such a hard thing to crack the nuts with other 'crackers' but this rachet type was much easier - still quite an effort with the maca's but easier none-the-less.
Recently my wife was given a nice solid 'screw down' type of cracker and she has personally become attached to it (attached to a nut cracker? All folks are different ...) so this rachet nut cracker needs to find a new home.
We had one last 'nut cracking' session with the Maca's, took some photographs and now the nutcracker is patiently waiting for a new home ...
Please note: the nuts shown (both raw and roasted/salted) are NOT included, we ate them all!
The table bowl that the "ready to eat" nuts are sitting in is available HERE
SAFETY WARNING:
Although the diecast rachet mechanism has an easy to open function (just move it downwards with your fingers) it is not a good idea to place your finger in the nut support area and rachet up the cracker. The nutcracker does not know the different between a nut and your finger! You WILL damage your finger if you keep tighening the nutcracker.
How do I know this? I was clowning around while breaking the raw nut shells and put my finger in the nut bowl area accidently while using the handle. My finger began to get squeezed (a lot!) so that I now have 4 'normal' fingers and one very sore finger - a bit stupid really ....
Fortunately, release of a nut (or your finger) is quick and easy as you just need to push downwards on the ratchet arm and the nut or finger will be released.
Enough of the stories, let's get down to the description ...
C.L RIMES (Leeds, England) - Nut Cracker
Year of manufacture: 1983 (stamped into the diecast metal rachet arm)
Tradename: CRACKER JACK
English designed and manufactured, made to last and last and last ... C.L Rimes Ltd patented this rachet design back in 1947. This means you can get older models of the Cracker Jack but watch out for those broken springs! See my notes under the Cosmetic Condition section below
All metal construction (Diecast & Chrome Plating)
Superb rachet mechanism, no more sore hands squeezing the handles together!
Accepts a wide size of nuts
Nut 'Mouth' Dimensions:
43mm x 36mm maximum
Simple to use with little effort, no need for "man's hands"
Squeeze the handle and release, the nut holder sitting at the top of the rachet arm moves upwards one 'place', keep doing this until your nut becomes squashed against a 'topside blade' which pierces the nut shell - this HOLDS the nut in place so it does not go flying across the room when the nut shell finally gives up the fight and cracksl.
Maca's are extremely hard nut shells so even though this rachet system makes life a lot easier, it still requires some effort to "crack 'er open"
Be careful as the nut shell is about to break because there is masses of pressure being applied to the nut which can result in the nut shell literally exploding! Get ready to catch the shell segments.
We used this nut cracker with only Walnuts and Macadamia's - tough nuts at the best of times!
Once the nut is cracked, it is very easy to move the diecast rachet arm downwards and extract the nutshell which is now cracked to perfection.
CRACKER JACK - DIMENSIONS:
190mm length x 95mm wide x 16mm thick
CRACKER JACK - WEIGHT:
295g
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Barely any scratching or marks at all - we have looked after this!
Nut support area (the nut is supported in something like a bowl while it is being cracked, always nice to have some support!) is in very good condition
The weakest point with these nut crackers is the internal spring - the spring in this nut cracker is in great condition. Beware if purchasing online (such as Fleabay) as I have friends who bought one without being told the spring was broken - this renders it useless!
Don't waste your time with those ordinary 'common as muck' nut crackers which place a lot of stress on your hand/wrist, this Cracker Jack will crack those nuts you have with ease.
We have now sealed this Cracker Jack in a clear plastic packet so that it is protected from the environment (dust) and we will not be tempted to "bring it out" again!
