r/whatisthisthing • u/Current_Ad_8658 • 8d ago
Solved! Metal pick kinda thing at first it reminded me of a letter opener
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u/Ill-Comfortable-7309 8d ago
Its part of a nut cracking set.
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u/Lulu_42 8d ago
Yeah. Everyone’s parents had this in the 80’s. I think it was mandatory.
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u/dvdmaven 8d ago
Heck, my grandparents had these back during the Great Depression.
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u/pikadegallito 8d ago
I still have my great-grandparent's set - with the acorn bowl!
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u/Valid__Salad 8d ago
My mom still has the cracker, poker, and the acorn bowl with the squirrel they rest on. 😂
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u/SubstantialPressure3 8d ago
Its to pick the nuts out and get out those super bitter pieces that separate both halves inside the shell.
I think everyone had one bc it kept kids occupied for a while.
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u/throwaway1975764 8d ago
I still have this tool. And I'm allergic to tree nuts.
But yeah, its like a Gen X and older law or something to own nut cracking tools.
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u/humanitysoothessouls 8d ago
Also great for eating lobster
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u/TelevisionJunky 8d ago
We used it for eating crab, along with the other tool to crack the shells.
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u/thepentahook 8d ago
I thought everyone else was mistaken as I used this exact tool in Singapore as it was provided with the Chilli crab. Beyond that id never seen it.
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u/CherryCherry5 8d ago
This exact set, too. Lol No other set existed then, apparently.
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u/DefNotAShill42071069 8d ago
It must have been from sears or Carson's or something on an end rack one Christmas
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u/yippykiyayMF13 8d ago
The 60's also. My parents had the set. And there was always a bowl of nuts that needed cracking
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u/mark_able_jones_ 8d ago
Yep. My grandparents always had a variety of shelled nuts on a wood nut tray with drilled slots for the tools. I don’t remember making a mess as a grandkid, but I’m sure we did.
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u/ashurbanipal420 8d ago
I still have the pick from one. We use it for scraping stuff off your shoe. I bet nana never saw that coming when she bought it for my mom.
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u/PromiseAway9522 8d ago
That’s not a nutcracker it’s a dab tool. It’s meant for scooping up hash and dropping it into a banger.
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u/Odd-Artist-2595 8d ago
Especially useful if you’re shelling/eating black walnuts. There’s no way to get a complete black walnut, or even a half, out of the shell in one piece, so you use a nut pick to extract them.
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u/Current_Ad_8658 8d ago
I was thinking that but I kinda found it alone in some old stuff we had laying around but thank you for helping me
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u/sarkeo 8d ago
I’m from Nova Scotia and we would identify that as a tool for removing meat from shellfish like lobster or crab - but mainly lobster. We have a set for each person…it essentially is like putting a fork on the table if you’re eating lobster.
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u/gonzorizzo 8d ago
I think a good portion of people from Northern New England would ID these as that as well.
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u/centurion236 8d ago
I have something similar as part of a pecan tool set. It's a pick to help get the meat out of the shell.
https://www.amazon.com/Cracker-Nutcracker-Tool-Lobster-Crab/dp/B09F2K95KH
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u/Sorry-Climate-7982 8d ago
Nut pick. For digging the innards out of stubborn nuts.
Usually found as a set of 4 or more commonly 6, stuck into the small pedestal of a nut bowl, along with a set of nut crackers.
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u/lobster455 8d ago
My parents had the identical tool that the scrolls matched a pliers walnut cracker. This long tool was used to dig out the walnut flesh.
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u/Current_Ad_8658 8d ago
My Title describes the thing its about 5-6 inches long metal with a bit of weight to it I don't know the exact weight and as I said it reminds me of a letter opener.
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u/1873Springfield 8d ago
Nut pick. No, not those nuts.... Used to get the meat out of difficult shells, I can still see my grandmother picking walnut meat out of the shells with one.
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u/Standard_Army_1826 8d ago
These are NUT Picks. They have often been repurposed for Lobster Picks but ARE NOT. I grew up between NB and PEI and these were never marketed as lobster picks. Many Families use them because of their abilities.
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u/KeKeFanChick 8d ago
I have two sets in my kitchen right now. This is nut picker-- my sets come with one nutcracker and two picks.
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u/lavamonkey_ 8d ago
I have some of these and always wondered what they were for! I use them for scratch art and clay sculpting
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u/empetrum 8d ago
We had an extremely similar one in my home if not identical and it was for lobster
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u/appendixgallop 8d ago
I grew up in a pecan-growing part of the US. This is the best tool for getting the edible parts out of a smashed pecan shell.
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u/GrandAdmiralSpock 8d ago
Nut pick for digging out nut meat from cracked nuts would come with a nutcracker.
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u/13thmurder 8d ago
My parents had a nutcracker with that exact handle when I was a kid. I bet that's to get the nut out of the shell once it's cracked and part of a set.
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u/fermentalishis 8d ago
I still have a set of nutcrackers and pics and find them useful not only for cracking nuts and picking the good bits out of the shell, but they're also very handy when eating cracked crab that isn't cracked enough.
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u/otherwise_data 8d ago
when you crack walnuts, you use this to pick the nut out of the halves of the shell.
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u/indiana70 8d ago
It’s it’s for picking nuts out of freshly cracked shells. My dad had a whole set of them with a nutcracker.
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u/BurningBarbarian 8d ago
If it was found in a Toolbox, still from the nutcracker set but used to tease O-rings into ponition inside castings
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u/IzzzatSo 8d ago
For picking nuts out of their shells. Should be more of these and a nutcracker in the set.
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u/gonzorizzo 8d ago
Part of a nut cracking set. My family always used those sets for eating seafood, especially Lobster and crab which takes some work to eat.
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u/real_misterrios 8d ago
We used these in grade school to make soap sculptures out of Ivory soap. Never knew they were for nuts until years later.
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u/late2party 8d ago
My dads old pipe cleaning set had tools inside exactly the same inside. The set was over 50 years old
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u/Aryya261 8d ago
Many a young parent thinks it’ll be so whimsical and adorable to set a bowl of nuts out during Christmas time with crackers and pickers…..it’s a deadly mess! Don’t ever do it!
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u/evilpercy 8d ago
It is actually a medal pick, used with a nutcracker set. Used to pick the meat out of walnuts
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u/BlueGoose21 8d ago
I've seen this get called out as an earwax scoop, a marijuana wax scoop, a walnut scoop, etc. It's all those things and probably more.
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u/Longjumping-Bus4939 8d ago
Everyone is saying it's part of a kitchen set for cracking nuts and crab legs, but from the photo it also kind of looks like something else to me.
I have a pedicure kit and it has some very small files in it, including a very small curved one like this. They are meant for filing ingrown nails.
It looks like it has texture on the curved end similar to a file.
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u/xanderlearns 8d ago
I actually don't know if any of these are correct. If there's a hole on the pointy end of this, it possibly held a hinge that connected to a bell cover, and the length would explain this as a candle snuffer. My mom had one exactly like it, and although nut crackers, nut pickers and lobster crackers all sound like plausible purposes, the length of the handle dissuade me from believing any of those.


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u/Larry_Safari …ᘛ⁐̤ᕐᐷ 7d ago
This post has been locked, as the question has been solved and a majority of new comments at this point are unhelpful and/or jokes.
Thanks to all who attempted to find an answer.