Had a black walnut on the farm, pain in the neck when they drop from a tree they are the size of a baseball had to pick them all up to cut the grass, but make a great dye for fiber or fabric. Had a nasty ice storm one year and it took down a couple of big branches, used it for fire wood, didn’t know it was worth anything until some stranger passed by and ask if we had any already cut...he almost cried when we told him we used it in the wood burning stove. He was a carver...To open the shell we used hubbys vice....much harder than walnuts
I’ve shelled black walnuts with a hammer and anvil.
They’re tough.
And they’re nasty in the lawn, or clonking you on the head as you walk under the tree.