This method works well for splitting a hickory nut in two, and then again into quarters for picking out the nut. Tapping it on the pointed or stem end with a hammer results in a clean halved nut shell. The halves still needed to be split again however to easily pick out the nut quarters. I did this by splitting the halves with a wire cutters. The video is divided into two parts to show how it’s done.
Tap on end to split whole nut
Cut to split again
Also, I want to give credit to the only source I found that actually had good advice for cracking open hickory nuts – My Barkyard Life. Here is a link to their website post. I watched a lot of video’s to find a good way to crack open hickory nuts and none of them worked. Hitting them on the side mostly ended up with a crushed mess, and using a vice did about the same.
I did have to figure out the 2nd part where I split them once again into quarters. With that I was able to get whole quarters out. The 2nd split is a bit more tricky, but again it was the only method I found that worked.
I can’t guarantee this method, but I can say it has worked best for me.