Nuther nutcracker

[Buffalo Bif]

I've been thinking about a nutcracker for a while, trying to solve the problem of heads popping off. I've even seen the decorative ones go pop. (Saw the same issue in another thread recently) The problem is the head to body joint is all end grain, you'll never get a good glue joint there. My working wooden antique had a solid body with a hole cut (laboriously I'm sure) to house the jaw/lever, and a hole drilled from the outside shoulder through the jaw and into the other side of the gnome. I needed another way to build mine.

I haven't built one yet, but here's a sketch of my thought project. Starting point is three blocks of wood, left right and center. The center piece is only as thick as the finished jaw. Cutting the jaw/lever from the block gives three pieces that fit together puzzle like. If those three pieces fit together with little gaps, you can carve all you want and never open up a gaping hole, at least in theory. The arcs on the bottom front and top back of the jaw have to be concentric with the pivot hole. I'm thinking a large diameter axle- 1/4 or maybe up to 1/2". Holes in the L&R pieces can be shallow- only 1/4 or 3/8 deep. That way your nutcracker can have a hidden pivot, assuming you dont carve too deeply. The jaw/lever needs to be thinner than the rest of the center block- if the center block was 3/4", sand the working piece down to 11/16 or so to prevent it binding in the fiished piece. I'll glue the axle into the jaw/lever, wax the jaw/lever, axle and the holes in the L&R's so glue won't stick. Apply glue to areas marked with X (there are two hidden X's opposite the ones you see) and glue the entire block back together. I'll leave the center block long so I can screw down the lever with the jaw in the closed position- I figure it will make the majority of the carving easier if the mouth isn't moving. I can cut the portion with the screw off later. Use a dense hardwood and a large pivot and the nutcracker should be up to most any nut you want to eat. Wonder if a 6' tall one could crack a coconut?

I'd love to see someone else work on this- if there's any interest I'll make up a finished blank and post photos of the process. (I know the pic is not the greatest)

[Mottles]

Hi:
Check out our member 'Keoma', she has a thread on how she goes about making a Nutcracker.

[Claude]

Here's the link to Keoma's thread:
Nutcracker!!!!!

Claude

[Claude]

Brian:
You might think about laminating the jaw/lever. The lever part needs vertical grain for strength, while the jaw itself would be better with horizontal grain. If you needed, say, a 3/4 inch jaw, you could laminate a 1/4 inch horizontal grain piece between two vertical-grained pieces, then cut the lever/jaw out of that...

Claude

[Keoma]

CAn't wait to see him finished!