Stone Crab Claw Cracker

Cracker

Step 1: Stone Crab

My wife and I both love Stone Crab Claws and when we winter in Florida we can’t get enough. Beautiful claws in mustard sauce. Because they are so hard and not easily cracked with a nutcracker, I use a little wooden mallet. Of course the shells go all over the place. I’m pretty good at it so I can get them flying 15’ in all directions and then comes the dirty looks cause we know who’ll be cleaning up. OK so maybe I can look for an alternative, and there it was, right on the Web, Stone crab crackers for 90 bucks and up. Are you serious?? No way??. So I decided to design and make my own.

Step 2: Material

First step was to go to my local welding shop and purchase approx 28” of 1” aluminum stock, then to the hardware and bought 3-- 3 ½ “ x 5/16” hex head bolts with those nylon lock nuts. Total cost so far 12 bucks. I already had a beautiful piece of ¾ inch oak and that was my base.

Step 3: Material Cut to Size

All pieces were cut to size

2 pieces 4 ½ “ long

1 piece 4" long

1 piece 3" long

1 piece at 12" long

Step 4: Pieces Drilled

Next came drilling all the holes, which was a little trickier than I thought, but I got them all done with only 1 hole in the wrong place.. Then the burrs were removed using my dremel tool.

Step 5: Dry Fit

Just prefitting it. Note the 2 deck screws countersunk on the top horizontal piece. They go through both pieces and are screwed into to the wood.

Step 6: Assembly

Assembly started with the 3” piece and 4” piece screwed together with 2 - 2 ½” deck screws and then screwed into the wood base; This is the anchor point for the whole cracker. Everything went together smoothly and with no problems. I ended up countersinking the 2 deck screws to keep cleanup easier.

Step 7: Completed

And here it is, a $90 cracker for $12. Unfortunately we didn’t have any claws to crack, but when we are in Florida this winter I’ll post a picture. I did steal my dog's bunny just for effect. Please note: No animal was hurt during this demonstration. I will refine it in the future will more accurate holes and a covering on the handle. OK got to Florida for the winter and picked up some claws, worked perfect.

Cheers.