Kitchen Press?

[lazyuniondriver]

Came in a milk crate purchased at an auction filled with mostly basement workshop items but it looks almost like a kitchen device.

The threaded part unscrews completely out and can be switched end for end to change from a larger to a smaller size. The handle is 9" long with a plastic end grip.

It's mounted on a 9" piece of wood that doesn't appear to be very old, there are no numbers or letters stamped anywhere, front or back.

[Bill Hudson]

Nut cracker, pecans ....? Bingo http://www.amazon.com/Duke-Company-Pecan-Cracker-Crackers/dp/B000FNK8JK/ref=sr_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1353819941&sr=1-1

[lazyuniondriver]

Bingo... And fast service... Thanks Bill.

I actually thought maybe it was a nutcracker but that seemed almost too easy.

A nutcracker for rich folks?

The only nutcracker experience I have is with mom's metal plier like device that resembled a jar opener.

The two different jaw size option also had me wondering.

If you look closely at the fixed jaw, it does appear to have the remains of a nut shell lodged in it so you have hit the nail on the head Bill.

[Barnyard]

Here is one from Munsey Products of Little Rock. I found it in a box of Mom's stuff that was moved to our house after she died. It is about 30 years old.

[lazyuniondriver]

A Munsey Nut Buster... The only nut buster I know about is this kind, not for edible nuts though...

http://www.dhcsupplies.com/store/p/1247 ... ckets.html

Barnyard's model has smooth cups, mine has ridges or serrations, one of the details that puzzled me thinking it was for some other use.

Quite a complicated little piece of equipment for busting nuts but now I know beyond a doubt what I have.

As I thought a little more about nut crackers farther back in time, I remember grandma had a cast iron squirrel that when you messed with its tail, it would crack the nut you placed in its mouth.

Thanks guys.