re: Where to buy oyster shucking tool?

quote:

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The only drawback to the tool is that I find sometime the oyster gets mangled in the process.

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Huh? You have to take a knife and separate the oyster from the shell. The tool only pries it open at the hinge, the hard part. I'd push the bit of the tool in and then set it on a tray. My friend would take each and separate the oyster from the shell, we worked at damn near the same pace, but I think I had the easier job.

What the tool does do is push some shell and/or dirt into the oyster. We figured this out after the first batch and I started using a towel to wipe the part of the oyster I was going to pry into. It worked OK, but I had to be more and more careful not to just crush the shell into the oyster since I had so much prying force. The better I got the cleaner they got. He'd wipe his knife for each oyster.

To me a clean product is what I'm so amazed the New Orleans shuckers can do. No dirt, no shell...but I guess that comes with the knife technique. I see them use a lead holder and just enough force.