| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/28/2009 7:06:06 PM | ok...so, i have yet to have a can opener that lasts longer than 6 months. i use the manual kind that has a rotating crank that you turn and it, in turn, controls a pair of gears, one of which has a round blade that (in a perfect world) slices through the top of the can. the damn thing will work for a bit and, with regular cleaning, will last a few months. then it just locks up and refuses to turn. i could scream. particularly now that i need to open a can of coffee and i can't do it!
any suggestions? advice? comiseration? | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/28/2009 7:17:44 PM | | I have used the same can opener for 25+ years. Same type as in your post. Brand name SWING-A-WAY. After washing I spray pam cooking spray on it. Just a little sprits and then I wipe with a paper towel. I think maybe your gets a little rusty and binds. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/28/2009 7:28:32 PM | As ms Apples said, you might be washing it, but not lubricating it after washing. Then it rusts until it's stuck. Either that, or buying at the Dollar store. If the latter, try getting the next one at target, pay a LITTLE more there, And spray pam or something on it every now and then.
I feel your pain. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/28/2009 7:34:02 PM | it's a really good one, from williams-sonoma.
i don't have pam. would olive oil work? i've never lubricated it (or any of the other casualties). maybe that's what i'm doing wrong. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/28/2009 11:42:54 PM |
i don't have pam. would olive oil work? i've never lubricated it (or any of the other casualties). maybe that's what i'm doing wrong.
I use either vegetable oil or olive oil (whichever is out when I need it) on my can openers- the newest is about 25 years old, the other is leftover from my parents kitchen and is probably close to 45 or 50.
But, yes it MUST be lubricated after washing, and every once in a while take an emery board to the cutting wheel and touch up the edge gently.
Another option is to find a military surplus store and get a few P-38's. I've seen them as cheap as 10 for $1 and will last forever. The one I keep in my camping kit is from WW I and still works the same as it did in 1918. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 5:41:14 AM | Those are awesome little can openers! I had one on my key ring forever ~ years ~ and it still worked like brand new, when it disappeared... Weird things happen when you have a house full of kids who drive..
I wonder,,,, if you have one of those crank openers that's stopped working,, maybe spray it with WD-40 and scrub with an old tooth brush to loosen the rust. Then wash well with hot soapy water, dry it and spray with cooking spray. Maybe I'll dig mine out of the kitchen drawer where they end up and see if I can breath new life into any of them,, there are probably half a dozen in there now taking up space.
How much worse could it get than to want coffee and not be able to get the can open? I'd have probably hacked a hole in it with a big knife...
tb | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 10:57:46 AM | | after my carpal tunnel surgery, my hands aren't as strong as they once were so my son bought me a black and decker hands free opener. you just line it up on the can, press the lever and it does the work for you. i know it sounds like the old counter top openers but it's much better and easier. i would never get the can open now if i had to twist the handle and in today's world nearly every kitchen has cans-we've let ourselves get too busy. too bad we can't turn the clocks back and learn from all our screwups! | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 12:00:28 PM | | Even though I have very strong hands (being a musician has side benefits ... ask my wife about strength and endurance when she wants her back/legs/feet rubbed ;) ) those B&D things are great little toys. I've had one for about a decade now. And yep, convenience overcomes conventionality ... I don't always have time to soak beans, or chop fresh tomatoes, etc. ... cans 'r' us. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 2:07:45 PM | My misfit appliance is a jar opener. I'm like the Burger King commercial for Whopper, Jrs.. I have squenchy hands and they don't fit around most of wide mouth jar lids. I don't have anyone to open jars, so I bought one of those things that look like a V with a handle. They are supposed to slide on jar lids and give you a handle to turn the lid. Nope, mine doesn't work. When I turn it, it just slips around the lid. I hate wanting a pickle and can't get in the darned jar.
When I'm really desperate, I hold the jar between my legs and use two hands to open it. Unfortunately, if there is liquid in the jar, some of it spills on the floor, but I can't come up with any other solution. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 4:37:15 PM |
STOP EATING OUT OF CANS! That's my advice. The best kitchens have NO CANS.
no one mentioned eating out of cans. the problem involved a can of coffee. the only kind i like comes in cans. go back and read more carefully.
anyway, my cat only likes one kind of tuna...and guess what ~ it comes in cans.
I hate wanting a pickle and can't get in the darned jar.
i use the blunt end of a knife and whack the side of the lid to loosen it. it generally comes right off. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 5:46:54 PM |
any suggestions? advice? comiseration?
The best coffee comes in vacuum bags, dark roasted, whole beans, grind them yourself moments before brewing in a french press. No can? No problem!
I make coffee here like that, yellow cherry arabica which comes straight off the mountainside in El Salvador. I've never had coffee so good.
Did you know that coffee represents something like 25% of our soluble dietary fiber? They say coffee has more soluble dietary fiber (the type of fiber that dissolves in water and helps prevent cholesterol from being absorbed by the intestines) than wine or orange juice.
Coffee also is a great antioxidant, and they do say that it has at least some of the bad cholesterol in an oil known as caffeinol which gets filtered out by coffee brewed in a drip maker that uses a paper filter, but I think the benefits of coffee made in the french press outweigh the risk of the cholesterol, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to find that people who use paper filters throw away the most beneficial part of their morning wake up beverage when they dump the coffee filter.. Just my 2 cents worth.. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 6:00:49 PM | I have a French Press.
My question is this....
When I unscrewed the screw below the filter the first time, then put it back together, which I have done many times since, the filter always goes down at an angle. What can I do???!! It is irritating. I don't think it makes that much difference, except I will get grounds in the last cup from it because of it. I hardly ever drink coffee, so it isn't that big of deal for me personally, but I do serve it to guests and I would like it not to have grounds in it.
Ideas?
I think my last one, which I had for years, had a spring between the filter screen and the flat solid metal piece with holes in it above the screen, the one with the coil around the bottom of it. Because of the spring, it could be cleaned without taking out the bottom screw. I have looked all over and cannot find one like that now.
SS | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 8:32:08 PM | Doh! Light bulb just went off about the can openers...
Ok consider this concept... Ever since chinese goods have invaded every aspect of our lives, they have served to run every decent manufacturer out of business, which in turn only increases demand and makes more room for more chinese crapware. It's a self-replicating disease. It's like the world's biggest polymorphic virus. Everywhere you turn, it's all you see. MADE IN CHINA.
The only solution you have left now, is going out to the flea markets and yard sales and buying stuff that was made before the chinese invasion, if you want stuff that will last.
I dread things breaking or wearing out anymore, where are you going to get a replacement?
French press? Get a Bodum while you still can. Even if the other one isn't completely broken, by the time it finishes breaking, read the first paragraph again if you want to know why there isn't a brand called Bodum anymore... | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/29/2009 10:45:26 PM |
STOP EATING OUT OF CANS! That's my advice. The best kitchens have NO CANS.
Ok, that's true. I've worked in some "best kitchens" and visited some others, and true, very often there's not a can in sight.
However... the stock comes out of a box (It ain't a can!); "fresh-baked" bread dough comes out of a bag (not a can either); soup, yup another box; Coffee- pre-ground in bags or concentrated liquid in tubes; meat, poultry, even some fish are cryo-bagged. sauces & gravies from glass jars. Nope- them's not cans alright, and the diners are paying $25+ a plate for BOX food. But they ain't cans.
Generalizations aside, it would be nice to have the money, time, and energy to have everything from scratch at home. But it just isn't gonna happen that way for most of the population. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 9/30/2009 4:58:57 PM | Can opener
I live in a dry climate so that probably makes a huge big difference. Never a minute's trouble with the can opener (old fashioned Swing A Way). It doesn't get much a of a work out though. I mostly have home canned stuff.
White Styrene Plastic Products
The problem I have since I've moved here is that it is so dry that all of my plastic parts to the Kitchen Aid are brittle and cracking. It isn't just the KA. Anything made of that white styrene plastic doesn't hold up even though I keep my house at a comfy 77 degrees in summer.
I've lost a bread maker, the meat grinder tray part, the housing for the shredders.... How annoying is that? I need to see if I can replace just the plastic parts. All of the metal parts are just fine.
Jar Openers
pazoozoo go online and look for adaptive aids. You will find some wonderful tools to help with things like jar openers. I have a couple of types that are great. Never could make that v shaped thingey work. One of mine might be by a company called EarthGro ?? Looks like their canning stuff at least. It's kind of rubbery, and round and has graduated sized areas inside. So it fits from wide mouths down to small jars. If you can't find one of those, get yourself some of that rubbery, shelf liner stuff that has a small waffle weave to it (what you put in your glass cupboard to keep your glasses from chipping; you get it at the hardware store). Just hack off a square or big triangle that will fit in your hand. It will give you lots of traction on those jar lids. The other things I have came as a set from QVC. There's a white plastic one that pops off canning jar lids or breaks the seal on commercial jars, another is for opening stuff like 2 L bottles and has a real bottle opener on it too, and there are 2 more that apparently I don't use that often or I use them so much I never even think about them. Hmmmm I'm not well enough to walk into the kitchen to see what they are right now. I'm going to die of curiosity til I remember what they are. OH! One is like the round one I mentioned only it's much smaller, a white rubbery thing. So it fits pill bottles and ketchup bottles. Hmmmm the 4th one iiiiiiiiiiis ................... What else would we have to open that would be made easier with a special tool? ??? Next time I'm up I'll wander in there. and add a post. | |
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| the land of misfit kitchen appliances
Posted: 10/2/2009 7:49:20 AM | | If I'm going for quick food it still usually doesn't come out of a can... If I'm not going to cook it's ramen or microwaved food other than that I go for fresh ingredients. The best are right out of the garden (sometimes it pays to have a close connection to a mother that has a TON of garden space). My misfit kitchen appliance is the scale or measuring cups I just plain never use them (unless I'm baking bread). | |
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