For just a few ears, shelling by hand is possible, but it rapidly gets unworkable when the number of ears to shell increase. For a larger amount, some kind of sheller is useful. There are little handheld ones that might be viable (and are certainly better than twisting with your bare hands), but a cranked sheller will be fast and save much pain and suffering.This is a link to a video featuring a big one in action, and the amount of corn it can shell is amazing.
International Harvester Corn Sheller in Action
Although he seems to be shelling for animal feed (given that he's putting it into a kitty litter bucket), there's no reason you couldn't get one of these and shell corn for your own use (I eat all of my corn at present, since I have no livestock--for now). However, as far as I know, the only way to get one of these big floor-mounted machines is to buy it on eBay. In decent condition they usually go for $300 or more, and even in bad condition they are expensive.
Smaller ones are more practical for a lot of reasons, and their throughput is very good, although not as great as the standalone model.
Small Corn Sheller
The one in the video above is new manufacture, but antique ones are available on eBay, too--new ones go for about $70+ and used ones on eBay sell for a wide range of prices, anywhere from $50 to $300 or more. The antique ones are often in bad shape, but many have been taken care of or are reconditioned. They're generally cast iron, so liable to be rusted, but can be sandblasted and repainted. I have bid for several and never won one. The new ones are sold by a few places; there is sometimes a vendor that lists them on eBay (they usually settle at a price around $75, +/- $25, the last time I checked). Pleasant Hill Grain sells one, too. I have seen it as cheap as $49, but it's currently closer to $70.
Pleasant Hill Grain Corn Sheller
Video: Pleasant Hill Grain Corn Sheller
That's where mine came from (it was a Christmas present), and I just ordered another one. The reason I mention Pleasant Hill is that, while I don't know of a corn sheller shortage or a reason large numbers of people would be trying to buy these, they have been out of stock for some time (update 7/3: they are showing as back in stock). This could all mean that nobody buys them so they are only ordering ten at a time, but if you're expecting to have use for one and like the looks of it, it may be worth backordering if it's not immediately available.
Lehman's also sells corn shellers; a crank-operated version and one of the small handheld one-ear-at-a-time types:
Lehman's Corn Shellers
To use these, you can mount them to a wooden box, or in some cases a 2x4 over a bucket--although the corn will scatter a bit as you crank, so there will be some that gets flung outside the bucket if you do it this way. I slowly and incompetently threw a box together out of scrap lumber, and it works--the mounting system has changed for the Pleasant Hill sheller since I got mine, so a different arrangement will be called for with the new one than I used for the old one. You can shell corn pretty quickly; I shelled the basket above in just a few minutes, and I wasn't rushing myself. Then it's necessary (or at least preferable) to pour the corn between a couple of buckets in front of a fan to get rid of the chaff and bits of cob.These shellers are marketed as walnut dehullers, too (there's even a place that sells them for that purpose; video is also available [though I know nothing else about the company]). I have a couple of black walnut trees and just planted a third, so processing black walnuts is something I'm interested in. My current method is very s l o w. I haven't tried running my freshly harvested walnuts through my sheller yet... seems like it'd make a mess and I always have lots of husk fly larvae in mine. So I do it the non-automated way. That's a topic for another day.
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