Update: Tin / Can openers.

[T i m]

Hi all,

As there were many kind contributions to our can opener question I thought I'd give you an update.

Partly based on the positive feedback and partly because I stumbled across one in a local shop (after taking the Prestige opener back, getting a refund and looking around for the battery - electric jobby with no success) I got the Kenwood mains / electric opener for £14.99.

It looks like we could have got it cheaper elsewhere but I was walking past our local shop so. ;-)

It was actually the only one they stocked (and in white like I wanted) so that might say something.

I got the Mrs to use it on an empty can and she found it very easy, not just the arthritic hands thing but the mechanism itself. Whilst it does take up a bit of valuable real-estate on the work top it's not 'that' big.

However, I am still going to look out for the battery electric model (JML / 4 cell?), just so we can have a choice and also some of the other manual models recommended for other reasons (like resealable lids etc).

All the best, T i m

[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:

The JML gives a lid which sits down nicely back onto the body of the can. Not resealable unless you intend to gas weld it, but none of them are.

[T i m]

TIG no good for that then? ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[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:

Actually, just this evening I was impressed with the fit of a can top onto the can body. Mostly they fit back reasonably well, but this particular can had a deeper edge to it and the re-fit was very good indeed.

[T i m]

Angle grinder? ;-)

She's getting on ok with the Kenwood opener (not had much chance to use it as yet though) but is a bit 'ham fisted' and mechanical things don't seem as obvious to her as they do me.

So I've had to explain that she should 'bring the can up to the opener vertically' (she was offering it up at quite an angle) 'and make sure the drive wheel is central to the can' (there didn't seem to be any effort to ensure things were actually aligned etc).

I predict one of us will lift the handle but not be holding onto the can. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Donwill]

I'm glad she's getting on OK with the Kenwood , I'm always a little worried after recommending something so thanks for the feedback. I was in the pub with our H&S officer one evening when he picked up a newly served pint of bitter, it slipped straight through and made a wonderful crash as it hit the tiled floor. We concocted another paragraph to the Works H&S rules. "When picking up a pint of bitter make sure your little finger is bent at right angles to your hand and located under the glass" I guess the same thing could apply when opening a tin? :-)

Cheers Don