Tin / can openers?

[T i m]

I guessed someone might! ;-)

Daughter did start off doing Samurai style classes when her other martial arts club closed down. I'm not sure her practice / wooden sword would take the top off one of these tins but I bet a real one would (ok, it might also spread the contents round the kitchen but so would an AG)! ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

And that's part of the key (the arthritis sufferers bit).

As long as it works on std ones that would be nice!

Based on all the replies so far I did some testing just now with the new 'Prestige' hand opener. It wouldn't even open a std can of tuna. ;-(

We even found one of the old plain metal ones (that I think cut the lid out rather than off) and at least that worked (but was progressively more difficult for her hands).

Based on the fact that we may have resolved the evaporated milk tin issue (puncture rather than remove lid), that many of the tins come with ring pulls anyway and we have an Argos within walking distance I might go for one of the battery jobbys before the mains one on the grounds it will take up less room. For starters anyway .

Cheers, T i m

[Jules Richardson]

It's second only to our Bissell carpet cleaner in terms of designed-by- turd-flinging-monkeys utter crapness. I just looked; it's made by Chefmate, incidentally. Don't buy one. Preferably don't even look at one. If you do have the unfortunate opportunity to observe one in the shop, do take a moment to set fire to it, thus saving some other poor sod the misfortune of being lumbered with it.

Well this one's mains, but it still sucks hairy donkey balls... which is doubly bad, as I really don't want hairy donkey balls in the kitchen.

Ha, true - except in stomach-lacerating sizes, I suppose.

Nice :) I'm still about ten telegraph poles short of a giant trebuchet, unfortunately.

Plus there's always the chance the M-i-L might want to see it. I suppose I could smash the living bejeezus out of it and honestly still say "it's broken" though ;-)

Yep! Blessed with space here, thankfully - just no flippin' shelving right now. I've got stuff on the floor *everywhere*. I see a project looming :-)

cheers

Jules

[Jules Richardson]

With a carefully-arranged set of parabolic reflectors, you could possibly neatly get the contents to exactly the right spot...

[dennis]

I have never took the lid of an evaporated milk tin, you just poke a couple of holes in the top and pour it. I used my penknife last time but it was years ago.

For cans I recon the lidl safety opener is the best hand held. Opens everything I have thrown at it (except for ring pull salmon tins) and doesn't leave any sharp edges on the lid or the can. It was expensive @ ~£4.50 though. It appears to be made in the UK too.

[Owain]

Apparently one can get good tips as a champagne waiter if one can open the bottle with a sword.

Owain

[T i m]

'Bex Bissell' comes to mind, was that it / same thing?

I wonder if Cheffmate took over Bex. Or it's the local brand name over there?

Ok.

I won't, I promise. (I saw a very nice looking lady the other day and I think I started turning into a pillar of salt (well, parts of me felt like they were)). ;-(

Will do (checks rucksack for accelerant and lighter).

Who would. We always buy the ready shaved offerings.

;-)

I saw a car-throwing one of them on the telly a while back. Awesome. ;-)

You let her back in the house after giving you such a thing?!

Do you have access to any higher voltages?

I love the Spur system (or Element 32 / Twinslot shelving). The workshop has a full height upright every 18" and it's proven sooo useful and flexible. Also I consider it an investment as you can easily take it down and with you if you move etc.

Repeat after me, "Twinslot shelving". ;-)

Cheers, T i m

p.s. My mate in the PC shop phoned me one morning asking for help as the nasty pigeon-hole stylee_emulsion_painted MDF 'shelves' he inherited with the shop had fallen off the wall and self destructed on the floor! I popped over to do as he requested re putting it back together and on the wall. Once I'd seen it I refused to do anything with it other than throw it in the skip! He finally agreed and allowed me to go get some Twinslot uprights and brackets. To provide some more durable shelving than Contiboard or MDF I got him some 4 x

4/4" (I think it was) pine tongue_and_groove floorboards, glued them together in twos and threes and when dry, planed the tongue off the front board. He was so pleased with the results we did the rest of the shop. Several years and much abuse later, nothing has fallen on the floor. ;-)

[T i m]

Hmm ... ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Yeah, I've since been reminded of said process. ;-(

Is that an issue other than the immediate safety of the user as such (in case I've missed something else)?

Not bad and if it works as well as you suggest, better than the £10 Prestige model?

Oooerr. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

I bet they can!

I wonder if you would need any extra insurance to do so though?

Did I hear that's why many (UK [1]) 'Greek' restaurants don't do the smashing plates thing any more?

Cheers, T i m

[1] I don't believe the H&SE 'bother' many countries like they do us?

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

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

I just took the batteries out today and was surprised to find I'd fitted it with 1800mAH cells - even better, as I was sure it was a set of 2500s in there.

[T i m]

Ah and I know that's a biggie from digital cameras and the like.

So I guess 4.8V worth of rechargables have an on-load current advantage over 6V worth of dry cells (apart from their rechargability I mean).

Cheers, T i m

[Gib Bogle]

When I was in Germany last year I bought a very good can opener (not at home at the moment so can't tell you the name). This opener is unusual in that it doesn't cut the can. It removes the top in a way that leaves no sharp edges, and also allows you to replace the top, giving not a bad seal. The action is easy. It wasn't cheap.

[PJ]

I would imagine that Aldi would sell you one in about five hours for =A31= =2E79.

[PeterC]

Expensive though!

[Phil L]

I too have had a kenwood electric can opened for the past 10 years and it still works perfectly well, it's not the chrome one mentioned here though - it's a white one, well it's yellowed a bit now obviously but I can't throw it away while it still does what it was bought to do.

In your OP you mention the knurled wheel *and* the cutting wheel turning on your prestige? - the kenwood ony has one moving part and that is the knurled wheel. When the handle is lifted and the can inserted, the handle comes back down and it switches the motor on which turns the wheel - the cutting spike is rigid and doesn't move - I'd have thought that the grips on the wheel would have worn away after so long but they haven't and it stil opens anything I want.

Paid about £8 for it from Argos IIRC

[T i m]

I think we would go for the white one as it's a bit cheaper and most of our stuff is already white.

Yes, there are a pair of coarse sprockets, one on the back of the knurled driving roller and one on the back of the cutting wheel that engage when the opener is closed and hence the cutting wheel also revolves (presumably to provide less drag). Neither of our other two manual openers have such.

So it's having to push against a spike (and still works). Most seem to have at least a free running wheel (like a pipe cutter).

Thanks for the feedback.

I do like the idea of the mains powered one and leaving it on the work top (easy) but what with the microwave, toaster, steamer, kettle (and currently a router motor in parts), there isn't much room out there! [1]

Ok thanks.

Cheers, T i m

[1] And I promised I'd make her a Cornish pasty for when she comes in from work. ;-)

[Gib Bogle]

It doesn't look anything like these. Stainless steel, for a kickoff.

[T i m]

That's clever.

And that's good (for many).

Clever / good things rarely are. ;-)

I tried these Prestige openers for the third time yesterday, this time on a very std size and construction can and they were completely useless so *are* going back (as faulty, let alone not very good on odd size cans).

cheap plastic handle pair we have (Culinare?) aren't bad in general use (they work ok) just are a bit hard to use with arthritic hands and sometimes even harder to open the handles at the end to release the lid (even for non-arthritic hands)! This isn't helped by the handles being molded / designed in such a way that when closed they fit flush together so nothing much to get your fingers in to pull the handles apart.

Actually they look to be a big brand and are these:

"The world's best selling can opener" eh?

I note that that's where the 'One Touch' automatic openers come from:

like the footnote:

"* With One Touch it may not be possible to open cans with heavy seams, rimless or odd shapes. One Touch will open cans with diameters of 67mm to 100mm inclusive."

But to be fair that whilst that means there are limitations (as there are on most things) at least you know what to expect. I note from my previous measurements it wouldn't be expected to open 2 of the three cans I had!

Mind you, it looks like they do an opener that can deal with smaller cans (down to 52mm, my smallest was 55mm):

there should be a body or system that proactively takes these gadgets and makes sure they actually work and if they don't they are prohibited from selling them (like a 'Which magazine' but with teeth). I say that because with these typically low cost items, I wonder how many people bother to take them back (out of principal) or mention them to Trading Standards (or whoever) and just throw them away or in the back of a draw and hence the sales continue (many other people buying them and doing the same)? ;-(

And it looks like you can't always rely on brand names as with these Prestige openers. *I* wouldn't have bought them (but then I don't have arthritis) and questioned in my head at the time the 'value' of buying something that cost 2 to 3 times the price of other similar role products but as there were 'only' 10 quid I went along with it (and now the one to take them back apparently)? ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[NT]