We have tons of walnuts in the shell left from Christmas. I was thinking about finding three shells that match pretty nicely and making my own set of shells for the TSG. I was wondering if anyone else has made their own set of shells fo the TSG using their own walnuts or even store bought walnuts in the shell? If so, how did they work out?

Lots of folks give a kick at making their own shells.

A few coats of a lightweight clear coat on the outside to seal out moisture (which can causes splitting), and some hardening putty spread lightly on the inside for structural stability.......and you're off.

A tip based on personal experience though......I'd make four or five shells at the same time, because one or two shells always seem to split

Thanks for the advice Silverking. What kind of clear coat? I would assume a Matte finish clear coat would work best? Also, what is hardening putty?

I've made my own shells too. Not only is it fun, it's tasty!

When silverking says "lightweight" coat, he means it. Spray very lightly, otherwise the wet shells can turn to mush and collapse in your hands. I went through a half a bag of walnuts before I figured this one out. Okay, so I was hungry. It still took a few before I figured out damp shells are bad news.

Scrape out the insides, but leave the thickness near the point alone. That's a very delicate spot and seems to be where it splits first. You can see a tiny split starting on the picture that I reinforced with putty. Go ahead and thin the back of the shell where the stem attaches. That will allow for the "ramp" you need for easy pea manipulation. Wood putty such as "Rock Hard" or "Plastic Wood" works well to line the inside of the shells. Again, moisture is your enemy so mix it rather dry and apply just a little bit at a time until you build it up. Instead of trimming off that ledge near the point, backfill it with putty to reinforce that area. Taper the rear stem area with putty. The rest of the insides can be left alone, unless you want to smear a very thin coat just to make the colors consistent.

Let it dry thoroughly and then sand the insides with fine sandpaper.

Admire your work, and then get busy on making the others to match.

Here's a pic I made to help illustrate the process:

Dave, wow that looks great! Thanks! What kind of clear coat did you use? Also, what did you use to scrape out the insides of the shells?

Actually that particular shell is uncoated. I think Krylon has a clear enamel spray paint, but any brand will work.

I don't remember what I used on the insides of the shells. Probably just the end of a screwdriver. All I really did was take out the dark brown membrane. I think I smoothed some ridges with a burr on a Dremel tool, but it's not that necessary.

Dave,

You did a great job, it's the best looking English walnut I've in a long time.
Did you give it the dip?

Tom

No, the natural raised rear was enough. I didn't want to thin the tip by working in the dip.

Pardon my ignorance here please, but what is "the dip"?

It's named after Jack Chanin and is usually called the "Chanin Dip."
It's a curvature added to the bottom of the shell to facilitate manipulating the pea. Pressing down on the tip rocks the back of the shell up a bit.

Some people like it, others don't think it's necessary. If you use a soft sponge pea it's not that necessary. If you work hard surfaces with a more rigid (but still compressable) pea like the SFS Perfect Pea then it helps.

La Maggiore shells do not have it.

SFS shells do.

I'm sure there's a lot more history than I'm telling here, but you get the idea.

Mine are like the others except that I coated the inside with epoxy and painted them black. Probably should have left them natural. Your's look great Dave.

I made several sets out of black walnuts, and ended up giving them away away because people liked them so much. The trouble with black walnuts is that they are so hard, and so convoluted inside, that they cannot be split in half with a nutcracker. You have to saw them in half and the use s Dremel Tool to hollow them out. In the process, you also carve chunks out of your hands. There's a very good reason Tom Bartlett gets $150 a set for his; They are worth every cent.

I finally decided I was tired of ruining my hands only to have to keep repeating it every time I gave away a set (or had them split, I had this happen to a few also, but with the black walnut shells it seems to be because they LOSE moisture, it seemed to happen when the heat came on steady for the Winter). I made a mold of a nice set of black walnuts, and have been having very good luck casting resin copies of my black walnut shells, and hand painting them. I'll post some pics when I get a chance.
Don