Conker Tips

StuartDH · #1 (**permalink**) 05-10-2005, 12:57 PM

Roast 'em, toast 'em, soak 'em in vinegar - let's here your tips for making really good conkers. I'll be out this weekend in search of a new 32er - the last one shrivelled like a prune and virtually crumbled into pieces.

nightshade · #2 (**permalink**) 06-10-2005, 11:37 AM

Find a big conker(thats the psychology at work)bake in a hot oven till the skin toughens, NOT the inside, allow to cool polish gently to restore lustre,take heads!!

StuartDH · #3 (**permalink**) 06-10-2005, 12:22 PM

I've just been told that it's very important to take your time over drilling the hole. Apparently, a hacked out hole through the core will start cracks from the inside out, that will severely weaken even the most toughened shell.

You'd think that with all the bizarre studies at university nowadays, somebody would be researching the ultimate conker

henrya · #4 (**permalink**) 07-10-2005, 12:22 PM

So why not go to the World Conker Championships this weekend, at Ashton Wold, Northants. You have to use the conkers they supply - you can't take your own. I gather entries are closed - but you can go and watch and maybe have the odd glass of fizzy stuff.

henrya

StuartDH · #5 (**permalink**) 07-10-2005, 12:39 PM

Excellent, if I'd known earlier I might have popped down to see this - and to think that some people suggest that Briton's have a hard time realising their identity. Conker championships, bog snorkelling and chasing cheese down hills are just some of the things that make this country great

More info here:

http://www.worldconkerchampionships.com/

BigAl · #6 (**permalink**) 09-10-2005, 01:34 PM

'You'd think that with all the bizarre studies at university nowadays, somebody would be researching the ultimate conker'

Well, there was a spate of letters to 'Chemistry in Britain' way back in '97 about this. A respondent from Royal Holloway College said,

'In general, cooking in vinegar [a dilute solution of ethanoic acid] would be expected to soften a conker... The Q. arises, do you want a soft resilient conkler that will absorb some punishment, or a hard one that will be brittle? One of my research students tells me that as a schoolboy he simply baked his conkers, which hardened them. My botany colleagues preferred scientific technique is to soften them with ethanoic acid and then use ethanol and formalin to dehydrateand preserve them. So perhaps, the optimum method is to use vinegar followed by whisky!'

11jim11 · #7 (**permalink**) 06-10-2009, 05:30 PM

hi there the best way that me and my mates have found so far is to fine the best size conker you can fined soak it in a jug of urine no longer than 3 days then put on a window seal with direct sun light or in a very warm room to dry out then put back in for another day then shake drips off and put in oven for 10 mins at 200c or above then drill the hole with a 3mm drill bit right in the center of the conker for the perfect conker, useing this i have a 29er and still going strong

clackdish · #8 (**permalink**) 06-10-2009, 11:37 PM

to really go to extremes after drilling the hole and scooping out as much as you can of the inside prefrebly all of it,fill with silicon and let it cure. It is really annoying as it takes some smashing ha ha, and yes i know its cheating but it is still funny !!!!!

wildherbalian85 · #9 (**permalink**) 07-10-2009, 08:46 PM

Find a large healthy looking conker and then store in a cool dry place for a year.... i was once a playground champion by using a conker that was 2 years old.

Beekeeper · #10 (**permalink**) 07-10-2009, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildherbalian85

Find a large healthy looking conker and then store in a cool dry place for a year.... i was once a playground champion by using a conker that was 2 years old.

I had a conker like that, had to stop using it as the leaves made it hard to see the target conker.

BK