Silkroad Online Forums

O hai.

I'm still working on my graduation project, and i've chosen a direction for
the next couple of months. Coconuts.

Coconuts are cheap as hell, are good in much asian foods, seem to be healthy,
etc. but they don't sell. Why? because atm, the only way to open them is either
with a hammer (and a nail, to drain the liquid), or with a big knife. Hit the
coconut till it breaks. Not really the thing i could see my mom do in the kitchen
tbh. So yea, it's my task now to find an easier, and maybe less violent way to
open a coconut, so people can enjoy it without having the big mess and the risky
opening with knifes and hammers.

My question is, is there a "traditional" way in your country to open coconuts? If
so, would you mind taking the time for me to buy a coconut and open it with taking
pictures while it all goes down? It would help me much to know how coconuts are
opened in other countries than here, especially in countries where the nuts actually
grow.

Thanks in advance.

I've made a short, 10 question survey. I'd really appreciate it if some of
you guys would fill it in. It's basically all multiple choice, so it shouldn't
take much more than 5 minutes.

CLICK ME FOR CIN's SURVEY.

Just thought i'd add the way people are told to open a coconut on the internet

Pay someone else to do it/buy it prepackaged.

I bet for your design degree, it would be cool if you designed a simulation coconut (packaging) with a twist off cap or something to make it easier for people.

yeah making a coconut-like packaging might be fun, but that's not really
what they expect from me. i need to do researching, prototyping etc. an
other point is, that well making people buy it prepackaged is not the point
of my study. i've learned to look at the source of the problem, which is
the fact that coconuts are a bitch to open and not many people know how to
open them. i've already got a couple of ideas on how to make it easier to
open them coconuts, but part of my research is to find out how people all
over the world crack em :]

Good ol' Black and Decker tablesaw.

i might be able to help you about the "Traditional Method" cin but i think i might give it detailed (yes with pics.) tomorrow or maybe Saturday.

that would be great man!

a fun way to open a coconut:

Needed items:

An Icehockeystick
A coconut
Friendz
Goals.

COCONUT GOLF!!!!

Smack your coconut towards a goal, which is hard. enjoy your nut..

Easy game, loads of fun, beats a piñata.

"I have a lovely bunch of coconuts"

im guessing you could make a wine bottle opener and straighten it? and hmm mabye make it threaded so it will be like a screw?

Heres an idea:



Stick the coconut on the spike to drain the water, then cut it with the guillotine, the (glass/x) border will make it stay inside and not fall out of the contraption.

Well idk how we open a coconut in Croatia, last time i bought one it didnt have any liquid inside, and i just used a knife to cut it in half, a big knife tho.

The good old machete is the most common used tool for coconut opening here (it's a somewhat popular snack), though people only gets them from street vendors. Buying coconuts and cutting, draining and preparing them yourself is not usual.


You could build a capsule thing with a big needle and a guilliotine. Make a hole with the needle and make the liquid that falls go to a small storaging piece of sorts and then cut it with the guilliotine or something like that (i suck at inventing devices).

@ iGod - lol i've actually thought of a guillotine myself
@ HyoZ - yeah, machete is a common tool to open a coco. but it's not very
practical i must say. sure, you get the job done, but what if my granny
would want to open one of them nuts, i don't see her handle the machete
that well <.<
@ Alterran - yeah, i've been thinking of an idea like this. i've been
thinking of something you can screw into the soft hole (there are 3 spots
on a coconut, one is soft, the others are hard.), like something with a
wire, some kind of cone hollow from the inside. so when you screw it till
you through, you can drain the juice cause it's hollow. then you can screw
it in further to crack the nut.

i'm still in the "how do people open a coco atm" phase though, but all ideas
are welcome ^_^

my family gets coconuts only on special occasions. but my mom usually throws it on the ground to break it, or uses a hammer.

those are the only ways to open a coconut, by excessive force. (hammer/throwing m due to its thick exterior.)

I put the coconut on the reverse side of my elbow, where it bends, and I slowly flex my arm (when I do it fast, it just shatters and gets coconut everywhere).

For woman/young children, why don't you try doing it like how they cut the pyramid stones. Make 2 metal prongs that look like a nail, easily hammer it into one of the soft spots, then have a wedge or spring loaded release to pry the two metal prongs apart - splitting the coconut.

do something like a can opener but bigger(so a coconut will fit), but with another design

But the thing is coconuts arent that popular as a fruit, and a tool to open one up wouldnt sell. Unless you can make something as cheap and as practical to pack a coconut with it, it wont sell.

This project will be hard

You could put the cocos on a stand that'll hold them in place, and have some big knife-like object slice through the middle of them...

Opening coconuts requires more of a smash, rather than a slice. It wouldn't work unless you picked up the knife and smashed the blade on it.

That's why people use machetes - they're dull and solid, you can smash all day and not shatter the blade.

^ that's exactly the plan

if there's a tool for cracking coco's easily and fast,
there will be a coconut-boom in the netherlands >:]

You know cin if yo can create a machine that cuts coconuts you can be a gagillionare. Who knows how many woman struggle to cut open there coconuts for there husbands every night

....LOL

i remember a site that had a pretty cool article on opening one, it wasn't easy though.

Coconut makes me gag. Tastes like sun tan lotion.

When were you eating sun tan lotion?

i could ask the same thing when people says "this tastes like crap"
and everyone did something stupid when he/she was a kid, tried to eat earth, remote control, etc

Who tries to eat a remote control?

Typically when a young child eats something they don't remember the taste. And I asked because sun tan lotion is fairly specific whereas "tastes like crap" is a figure of speach used to describe a bad taste.

not eat, but taste or whatever, ive seen my niece with the remote in her mouth

I've made a short, 10 question survey. I'd really appreciate it if some of
you guys would fill it in. It's basically all multiple choice, so it shouldn't
take much more than 5 minutes.

CLICK ME FOR CIN's SURVEY.

Done, but I never buy coconuts.