This one kind of shows the stages.
We were given a grocery sack full of hickory nuts, but I know they have to be cracked and then picked out of the shell, and I'm not sure what I would do with them after that, so I gave them away. I've heard if you bake them an hour or so they'll dry and crack on their own, but you still have to force them open and then pick the meat out. Too much work for nuts...if it was chocolate I'd be doing it right now, but nuts?????