I don't have machete, and this seems like the best of my cutting implements to use. It's not very sharp anymore, it's been battle scarred. I want the coconut halves to come out intact and fairly even in size.
Edit: spelling
[ April 02, 2005, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: dread pirate romany ]
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
My dad used to do it with a butcher's cleaver when his machete was loaned out. Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I've always heard its not the size of the blade but how well you swing it that determines if you can split the coconut.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
We used to drill holes (with an icepick?) to sort of weaken the shell along a faultline, and then it was more likely to split along that seam.
I think Mother used an axe. Short sword sounds ... well, useful, so long as you are careful with the roll-y thing you are cutting. Maybe do some holes and then place the tip of the short sword in one of them, poise it, and whack it with a hammer? (Otherwise, if you are doing the "hiii-yah!" thing, be careful the blade doesn't shear off and slice into a body part.)
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
Ah. I think you're supposed to drill holes anyway to get the coconut milk, right? I think I'll try that.
Edit: Is it just me, or did anyone else read innuendo into Dan's post?
[ April 02, 2005, 04:10 PM: Message edited by: dread pirate romany ]
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
quote:be careful the blade doesn't shear off and slice into a body part
I agree. The blood could absolutely ruin the coconut, tastewise.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
And then you have to clean your blade extra-carefully, what with the tarnish and all.
[I always read innuendo into Dan_raven's posts. I am also horrified at myself for reading double entendre into skillery's heartfelt post on the Pope John Paul thread, and I'm considering what due penance would be. I think I'm going to assign myself to clean out the closet. That'll fix me. ]
[ April 02, 2005, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
It bothers me I actually stopped to consider this.
A short sword is designed for stabbing and thrusting, not slashing and hacking.
I vote no.
-Trevor
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Ahhh ... I see. What about a long sword?
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
That's my only sword ( I know an epi won't cut it.
What about a hatchet?
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Gah, long the d20 geek!
Yes - three feet of steel will have enough weight to the blade itself that it could cleave a coconut in twain.
-Trevor
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
My favorite weapon ever is the polished*** femur that my half-orc carried.
*reminisces
[*** well, by the third campaign, most of the gristle had worn off ]
[ April 02, 2005, 04:29 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
I'd say yes to the hatchet - that is designed specifically for chopping and should do the trick far better than even the longsword.
Use your common sense - don't try to hold the coconut in place as someone swings...that's a waste of a good nut.
Whether I'm talking about the nut being chopped or the nut holding the nut being chopped is up to you.
-Trevor
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I hope you read some innuendo into my post. It took me hours of patient folding and packing to stuff it in there.
Cleaving always reminds me of the only good line in "Beastmaster II" (Subtitle was "Direct to Video" I believe.)
Well endowed female villian, "Why do you hero's keep threatening to cleave my bosum in twain? I think it cleaves well enough as it is. Don't you?"
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Geeze...that's enough to make me find the movie in the discount bin.
-Trevor
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
This is the last time I tell my son, "Weigh it, and if you figure out the price within 10 cents, I'll buy it for you."
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
I loved the Beastmaster movies! Mmmm, Beastmaster.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Has anybody here really ever personally opened coconuts this way? Cuz whatcha see on tv/movies can be deceptive. Unless the shell is "just off the tree" fresh -- which ain't likely from most grocery stores -- it sounds like a way to shatter a coconut into many pieces. While risking personal injury.
I'd mark a circumference around the middle by setting the pen/pencil on top of a cup/etc of appropriate height, then spinning the coconut against the pen/pencil tip. Use a saw -- cross-cut blade or a wood-cutting hacksaw blade -- on the marked circumference to cut through the shell just to the white. Rinse clean to get rid of the shell bits/dust. Then use a regular knive to cut through the meat.
[ April 02, 2005, 05:08 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Which is why we created a faultline, I suppose.
Posted by Stan the man (Member # 6249) on :
ask this lady. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
My dad cut coconuts with a cleaver or machete all the time. So there. Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
Funny, Stan , my husband asked if I planned to do that with the dried coconut shells.
Actually, I plan to use them for Monty Python-esque horse sound effects.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
And I go bowling with coconuts. Rolling 'em against concrete steps, against the house footing in a lower-level garage, etc. Never hard, just repeatedly until it cracks. Or just tap tap tap around the coconut with a steel pipe or the peening end of a hammer until the shell cracks. Most of the time the crack will circumnavigate the shell until it terminates upon self-intersection. Leaving two halves of a broken shell with the meat intact.
The problem being I can't finely control where the crack starts. Nor have meaningful control of the directions in which the two ends of the crack run, nor whether the crack runs on a single flat plane. Then even with the shell cracked, it's a lot harder to cut through the meat when the two shell halves' edges are still held tightly together by the meat.
You specified two approximately equal coconut halves, which my bowling or tap tap tapping methods would be unlikely to provide.
[ April 02, 2005, 06:46 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Watch Iron Chef. I've seen them use several methods.
Posted by dread pirate romany (Member # 6869) on :
Is Iron Chef on DVD? I don't get cable.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Dunno. And they don't explain their techniques, so it wouldn't be worth buying just for that.
Posted by Boon (Member # 4646) on :
That's a really interesting site/article. Posted by Coccinelle (Member # 5832) on :
My sister (the coconut nut) throws them down the stairs outside to crack them open. You have to throw it hard against the ground, but it works everytime.
If she wants the milk, she takes a power drill, drills a hole, drains the milk and then proceeds to throw it down. I think she just likes to make it more dramatic.
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I am also horrified at myself for reading double entendre into skillery's heartfelt post on the Pope John Paul thread, and I'm considering what due penance would be. I think I'm going to assign myself to clean out the closet. That'll fix me. ![[No No]](graemlins/nono.gif)
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