The great sugar pine seed operation

I thought I was sooo smart.

I've had a lot of trouble with sugar pine seeds.  I got my seeds from seedlings.com after a long search.  They were sent to me in a packet that was mis-labeled "Queen Anne's Lace" but 15 minutes on the phone straightened this out.  They'd sent the correct seeds with the wrong label.  Then, my germination rate was rather poor: only two seeds germinated out of about 30 (one without stratification, the other after about four months stratification).  In addition, the seeds have a remarkable propensity to grow mold, lots and lots of it, I don't know why.  This seems to happen even after a dip in 50% bleach, almost as though the seeds have mold impregnated in them by nature's design.

Finally, though, I found this great article on germination of sugar pine seeds in the American Journal of Botany (65:804).  This article seemed to explain it all: "Complete removal of the seed coats yielded prompt germination without stratification."  I just had to remove the seed coats completely!  It was a little strange though, this author saw 50% germination after a month's stratification (to my 10%); he saw 90% germination, in short order, after 5 months' stratification (to my 10%).  But I decided to forge ahead with the great sugar pine seed operation:

First incision

Here I'm making a cut in the outer coat, to create a space I can use to pry the seed apart.

Coat breeched

After making the cut, you can see the partially hollow inside of the seed.  I'll use this space to pry the seed open.

Inner coat

Open!  Note that the seed has an inner coating, as well.  The article claims that this must also be removed for easy germination.

Revealed

Removing the inner coat reveals the seed itself.

Ta-daa!

Ta-daa!  As my wife remarked, it looks like a pine nut, which I guess is what it is.

Done

The finished product on coffee filters, ready for incubation in our warm bathroom

I had visions of sugar plums.  But this didn't work!!!  I denuded seven seeds, stuck them on coffee filters in plastic bags, and have seen no germination (whereas the author of the Am J Botany article saw 100% in a few days).  My question is: why?  Is the American Journal of Botany article wrong?  Has anybody ever heard of removing the seed coat for this or other species, and does it work?  Are my seeds bad?  Does anybody know of a good source for sugar pine seeds?