Opening tight jar lids.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Very good - if you happen to knock over a jar after opening. ;-)

[Chris Hogg]

You only need a tiny hole, just enough to release the vacuum. No need to use a 6" nail, a panel pin would do. If the jar did get knocked over, virtually nothing would leak out.

[PeterC]

I found that slightly abrading the strap helped a lot - it removed the mold release. Then get the centre line of the strap on the acute edge of the slope.

[fred]

We used to jam it between the hinge side of the door ad the door jamb and close the door on it.. Made a mess of the door and jambe but generally worked

[No Name]

Has anyone considered using a pair oil filter wrench for this? They come with rubber or cloth straps.....

One round the lid, the other around the jar......

Simples, no longer in a jam! :-)

[Dave Plowman (News]

Called strap wrenches. And mentioned ages ago. As something that really does work unlike all the stupid ideas here. ;-)

[alan_m]

The little lever device recommended before works well, is simple to use, cheap, quite small to store and doesn't destroy the lid.

[alan_m]

For experience it doesn't always work on oil filters on cars! The standby has always been to hammer a screwdriver through the filter :)

[Dave Plowman (News]

The version I have for car oil filters uses a chain rather than strap. So doesn't rely totally on friction. It has teeth which bite into the filter.

[fred]

The best oil filter wrenches look like overlarge spanners which match the flats at the top of the filter.In the past I tried every version of these other types none of which worked sucessfully in confined spaces

[Martin Brown]

I don't think it actually matters which one you try to turn. Newtons third law is relevant here and the grip with the weaker friction will slip first. There might be a slight advantage therefore in using your stronger grip on the smaller lid than on the body of the jar.

I find that for very stiff jamjar lids holding the lid and jar as hard as I can out so that my arms cross at 120 degrees and moving the thing sharply towards me allows me to put much more instantaneous torque onto the recalcitrant jar lid than I can from just the wrist.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Fine if your filter has flats - not all do. But if really tight, the thin steel they are made out of will likely deform with a spanner. Assuming there is room to get such a large spanner in.

At one time, some had an ordinary nut welded on the end.

[Tim Lamb]

I've found a *strap wrench* pretty good. Mine is based on a box section steel rod which takes a 1/2" socket driver. Where access is restricted, you can use an extender. I also have chain wrench but that would wreck a thin container.

[Robin]

+1

[Dave Plowman (News]

The trick, of course, when doing your own oil changes is not to tighten the filter like it's a cylinder head bolt. It will then come off by hand easily enough.

[alan_m]

That's the theory but having performed my own oil changes for 30+ years oil filters seem to glue themselves on even if they were only screwed on hand tight :)

[RJH]

I'd admit to fitting them hand tight plus a bit with the wrench. It just

*seems* like it's necessary on such an essential component that could wreck an engine if it came loose.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Ok here. Just use one hand to tighten them. Two to remove - and make sure it's clean first.

[Adrian Caspersz]

It's a neat solution. We have one - expensive from LakeLand when they first came out. But as a bit of mass produced plastic should now cost less than a quid.

But, given that some large percentage of 63 million UK residents suffer weekly problems opening bottles and Jam Jars, and we have identified that a car oil filter strap wrench is the obvious solution, I'm gonna book a huge prime time advertising campaign on ITV.

I should clean up nicely.... ;-)

Actually, thinking about it - someone needs to invent a bottle opener device for items with a child-proof cap. Both medicine and cleaning products bottles are sadly becoming adult-proof, I am often called to open something and leave the cap on loose....

[alan_m]

+1

Not only child proof lids but sealed bubble packs. The worst one I encountered recently was a card of Duracell button batteries with a child safe packing. Tear the plastic holding the battery from the card and find that the plastic bubble is completely sealed. A pair of small scissors or a craft/Stanley type knife is required to go further but the lip that has to be cut is very narrow (and round).