5 tips on how to harden a conker
Having the hardest conker in most cases equals victory - as the hardest conkers in most cases wins. The 5 most common ways to harden a conker are:
Soak conker in vinegar and bake
Put conker in oven at a low temperature and bake
Cover the conker in nail varnish
Fill the conker with glue
Age your conker by leaving it in a drawer / dark place for a year or two
But of course if you really want to win at conkers, then you could buy one of our battle packs >>
1) Soak conker in vinegar then bake
Soaking your conker in vinegar will essentially pickle it, naturally removing some of the moisture from the inside, whilst at the same time hardening the outside (without 100% drying it out). This balance of moisture and hardness is important, as you don’t want a 100% hard conker otherwise it’ll be too brittle and easily disintegrate when it. Putting your vinegared conker in the oven afterwards is a final important step - to make sure more of the moisture is removed (but not too much!)
The old vinegar conker trick is one of the oldest in the book, and arguably one of the best - so definitely give it a go as a starter. The type of vinegar we’d always recommend using Sarsons Malt Vinegar for hardening conkers!
2) Put them in the oven over night at a slow temperature
If you don’t have any vinegar, the simpler option is to put your conker in the oven at a slow temperature over night. This will speed up the natural drying out process. Be careful at what temperature you put the oven on, as you may try them out too much too quickly, and they’ll end up too brittle.
3) Cover your conker in nail varnish
For those of you who’ve access to a supply of nail varnish, painting a layer of clear varnish over your conker will create a protective layer - meaning that it is harder for your conker to crack. Make sure you pick clear varnish though and not a coloured varnish, as you don’t want to end up with a pink conker!
4) Fill your conker with glue
A conker is made of two parts - its shell and its core. One tactic is to hollow out the core of your conker and replace it with glue (or at least part of it with glue) as this will make the core super-strengthened!
5) Leave your conker in a drawer for a year or two
Ageing a conker is the most natural and arguably the best way to harden a conker, as with age the conker will naturally lose some of its moisture and become harder. One important factor when ageing a conker is to make sure you get the humidity correct - too much moisture will result in your conker core going mouldy; too little, and your conker will over cook and go too brittle. A similar humid and temperature of a wine cellar is the perfect conditions for ageing conkers.
If you’re patient, ageing conkers is the most natural and easiest approach to hardening your conker - and will after several years result in an extremely strong conker, rock solid! If you’re interested in how we harden conkers at Peckham Conker Club, you can watch the following video . . .
Other ways to ‘harden’ your conker
If the above 5 different ideas for hardening your conker aren’t good enough, then there are alternative / extreme ideas for cheating with your conker, like:
Painting a stone brown and pretending it’s a conker
Injecting your conker with epoxyresin
Injecting your conker skin with concrete - although we’re not 100% sure this would be possible
Best ways to cheat at the game of conkers
Beyond illegally hardening your conker before a game of conkers, there are other ways to cheat at conkers. The best ways to cheat at conkers are:
Stampsies: stampsies is when one of the player’s conkers falls to the ground, but doesn’t smash, and then the other player literally stamps on the conker to break it.
Tangles: tangles is when both players strings get tangled together during a game of conkers, and then one of the people tugs / pulls at the other’s conker pulling it to the ground and smashing it.
Start a conker fight
Conker fights - or conker battles - are for the more adventurous conker player - kind of like Mortal Kombat, but with conkers. Watch the video below & start a battle here >>
Buy a ‘Battle Pack’
You’re never gonna win a Conker Battle if you don’t have the right kit. Our Battle Packs provide you with everything you need to play conkers & WIN!
The BattlePack ‘PRO EDITION’ is our all-in-one conker pack - everything you need to start a conker battle. Pack includes:
x2 Conker laces (Custom designed - player 1 / player 2)
x1 hand drill (for holing conkers)
x5 Conker Coins (for scoring)
x1 Peckham Conker Club pin-badges
x1 Rule Card
x1 Battle bag (for storing conkers)
x1 Tin (for storing all your conker kit)
That’s right - it’s everything you need to play conkers & play like a BOSS. Give it a go ;-)