georg kloeck’s nutcracker breaks nuts with a sledgehammer

designer georg kloeck did a research on why we crack the nuts and turns out that we only do it for fun. the walnuts sold in their shells are more expensive than the peeled ones, so people just want to enjoy the process.

klouck realized that he doesn’t need to design the most efficient or cheapest nutcracker, but the one which is most fun and beautiful. as walnuts from the supermarket are surprisingly homogeneous in size, the cylinder parts could be milled very precisely. the piston will not pulverize the nut but only break its shell, while the air trapped inside the cylinder absorbs a lot of energy from the hammer blow.

materials used: oiled oak, ball bearing to reduce friction, magnets to help with the insertion of the cylinder and a cheap 5 kg sledgehammer.

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.