"George Shirley" > Yeah, but a good home-made black walnut cake is
excellent. The wood is
> primarily used for making fine gun stocks. Brokered a deal with a gun
> stock maker years ago as I had a friend who wanted to sell about ten
> thousand board feet of black walnut, air dried for about three years in an
> old barn. He got a small fortune for that wood. Beautiful stuff,
> particularly if it has burl in it.

It seems like I read somewhere that blanching nuts makes them easier to
shell. Might be worth trying if you were highly motivated. Polly