Tight lid on pickle jar

[S Viemeister]

I would permanently ban from my kitchen, anyone who miss-used a knife in that way. It's just as bad as using a chisel as a screwdriver or pry-bar.

[S Viemeister]

Google for this -

It works on jars of all diameters, and even on bottles. I bought mine in the US, but it's probably available in the UK, too.

[Clive George]

Even a table knife? Sure, it would be nasty to use a nice sharp one that way, but it would also be less effective at a guess.

[dennis]

8<

Even a table knife could break the glass leaving you gripping a broken jar rather too tightly for comfort.

My mom used to put a pin hole in the lid, I don't recall how.

I have never come across one where I couldn't open it using my hands, yet. I suppose that I will eventually need a tool to do them as I get older. I might grind a short point on an automatic centre punch.

[S Viemeister]

Even a table knife. That's why the jar-opener lives in the cutlery drawer.

[Norman Billingham]

The way that works for me infallibly (so far) is to hold the jar upside down by the base and give the top one sharp vertical bang on the floor (vinyl over concrete). The top then just unscrews easily and there are no holes or other damage to stop it sealing when it's put back on. I've done this many times and have never had a jar break - hope that's not famous last words!

[Nightjar]

The relative sizes of lid and jar don't matter, provided where it grips ia within the stated sies. The opener simply closes the two sets of jaws until they grip before starting to unscrew the lid.

Colin Bignell

[T i m]

(80 yr old) Mum handed me one of those to open when we popped round the other day. I asked her if she had one of those rubber grip sheets, or a sheet of rubber or somesuch and she re-appeared with a Marigold glove. /Now/ I could get a decent grip on it and 'pop'. ;-)

No use for her and her arthritic hands though so I might look into one of the Jarkeys for them.

Cheers, T i m

[Airport Shuttle]

Just hit the bottom of the jar with the palm of your hand.

[Dave Osborne]

Shirley you mean "using a screwdriver as a chisel or pry-bar"? Not many screws big enough for a chisel to be effective!

[S Viemeister]

No, I've actually witnessed attempts to use a chisel as a screwdriver! And a home-improvement show recently had the host using a chisel to lift out glazing points from a window...

[Peter Scott]

Tap all round the edge of the lid with a lightish metal object like a knife handle. I find this often allows my 'brute force' to work.

Peter Scott

[Spamlet]

In my experience the knife under the rim often ends up with broken glass in the pickle; and on a tight jar you can also slip and stab yourself.

You are already half way there with your rubber strap: a rubber glove works just as well, but to be doubly sure you have to break the seal first. All you need to do is hit the centre of the cap smartly with the heel of your palm. This always works. I would say best *not* to have the jar braced on anything, as you want the contents to do the work, and should not transfer stress to the glass unnecessarily: Just hold the base of the jar cupped in one hand (a tea cloth in your palm makes it a little safer) and hit the centre of the top with the heel of the other palm: you hit down: contents jumps up and breaks the seal. Simple. Rubber glove then gives you a bit of extra grip should it still be needed.

To those that have mentioned the clever battery powered openers, I would note that SWMBO bought one (though she rarely puts the top back on a jar anyway...) It regularly goes off in the kitchen drawer and has amazing power to mangle anything that gets in its way (crushed my metal tape measure!) before you can get the batteries out to stop it! I have taken to opposing the batteries when not in use... B dangerous thing!

S

[Bob Martin]

[T i m]

Would it go up to the size of these big 'wally' jars though do you know please (I'll have to get Mum to measure the one I did for her recently).

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Spooky, she just rang.

The lid is apparently 100mm diameter and the body of the jar about

130mm.

Cheers, T i m

[Clive Page]

In message , David J writes

What always (so far) has worked for me is to grip the sides of the lid very gently in a vice. You mustn't over tighten or it might conceivably crack the glass jar, but just a gentle squeeze seems to distort the lid enough to let the air in, and also loosen the threads. As soon as you hear the slight hiss, you can undo the grip of the vice and undo the lid by hand.

[Spamlet]

Seriously: next time just try thumping the middle of the lid with the heel of your palm. This almost always works: the contents jump up and compress the air, forcing it through the seal and unsticking it for you.

S

[Toby]

Then hold the lid with your left hand, and turn the jar clockwise with your right hand!!!

Toby...

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Clive Page saying something like:

I just stab it with a short stabby carving knife. The contents don't usually exist for long enough for ingress to be a problem, but if necessary a bit of tape over the hole will do.