I live in a small city apartment and don't have a took box or a vise. How should I get my black walnuts cracked? I've tried freezing and soakin...

Wow, does this bring back memories! My father always took care of our black walnuts, but he had a well-equipped workshop. I've heard of people putting them in the street and running them over before moving on to finer machinery. Somehow, that doesn't seem like a great idea in NYC (or elsewhere, for that matter). If you're going to do this more than once, you should get a vise. Good luck, and let us know how you finally manage.

Wow, sounds like you have some pretty ornery black walnuts on your hands. Growing up we did them in a vise because we had one and it was the safest and easiest way to deal with them (also learned to never tell my mother we were bored, or she'd send us down to the basement to crack black walnuts in the vise!). But I thought a hammer would work. I'll ask my mother if she knows any other method.

Has this worked?.....I did try this. The head of my hammer came off. At this point, I'd take them to a nut cracker in NYC (preferably Manhattan) if I knew who could do it. I'd like to try this recipe and another for a pudding.

Do you have pliers and a hammer? If so, I'd try holding them with pliers and tapping them with a hammer.