Haven't cracked any in years,but when I was growing up I did thousands of them.
Not that any method is better than another,we put them in bushel baskets and let the hulls get soft then poured them on a tarp that was laid on our concrete driveway.
We had old rubber boots that we would use to walk on the nuts to separate the hulls,most of the hulls should separate if they are soft enough,didn't have any kind of rubber gloves back then so it was plain jane jersey gloves,then lay the nut in the sun to dry for a couple of days.
Then back into the bushel baskets to be cracked when possible,I had a 4# hammer that worked great for this,just need some kind of hard surface to crack them on,concrete,piece of rail,etc.
Its tedious work,wish I had a good steel dental pick back then that would have helped a bunch.
The actual meat of the nut has a very strong favor that some people don't care for,in the late 60's till the mid 70's they were all my mother used for her Christmas baking.
And what was not needed were given away or sold for a little extra pocket change.
Anyways if you decide to try them don't give up to quick its a time consuming task but worth the effort.
Greg