Fresh walnuts - oh my gosh

Thomas, I am not sure that I understand just what the problem is that you have with black walnuts.

Bob, I think I can explain this. I just got out my trusty Sunset Western Garden book and found out there are several kinds of black walnuts. The northern California version (there is also another from SoCal) is Juglans californica hindsii. That's the black walnut I described before, the one that's used as rootstock for the English walnut (Juglans regia) where those are grown in California. The black walnut native to eastern North America (and one with which I assume you're familiar) is Juglans nigra. I've never encountered one of those but from your description, it is a great deal easier to open than the California version. Take my and Thomas's word for it, the fruit of the California black walnut is practically inpenetrable. It would never be found in stores.

By the way, this is an illustration of why they told me in my Master Gardener's class never to use common names for plants. The same common names get used over and over again for different species.

FWIW: black walnuts were traditionally used as a brown wood stain. They're still used today for staining baskets and other items. You can even buy powdered walnut hulls for that use.

Larry, back in the late 60's and early 70's I was stationed in Seville Spain with the USAF. I got into going around the different watch/clock repair shops in the city and buying up old pendulum clocks that had fallen into disrepair. Usually all they needed is to have the works removed from the case and cleaned with either some kerosene, gasoline or other such petroleum based liquid. Then one had to clean the pendulum and the case. Some Brasso usually worked to polish the brass pendulum weight, and some paint remover worked well on the wooden case. when the case was clean, believe it or not, I used brown shoe polish to restore the color to the wood. That took aobout 3 coats with handrubbing between coats.

I usually paid about $5 or so for the old clocks and sold them for about $100. I could do 3-4 of them per week if I could find that many.