Am I growing old and decrepit?

Bretrick, removing lids of all sorts has become a big issue for me lately,
and more than usual, I have the rubber thing to help twist off the lids, I
even have the circular twist opener, and in spite of that, I actually sprained
my thumb couple weeks ago :

Those rubber things are lifesavers! I actually started using them in my 40s because jars and caps are screwed on too tight anymore and (like the original post says) there are often no perforations.
 

Fpr years I used a Y shaped mechanical jar opener from Ace Hardware that had teeth on the inside of the Y and it worked great on any size jar lid because the smaller the lid the farther you slid it down into the Y. A few weeks ago I misplaced it and in desperation hit the lid with 3 hard whacks on one side with a heavy metal spoon and the lid came right off. I tried this again later and it works. It's better if both the lid and jar are plastic. With glass jars and metal lids I ran hot water over the lid and gave it just a gentle whack and the lid came right off. I'm going to try inserting the spoon or church key between jar and lid next time. That sounds interesting.
 
In attempting to remove plastic lid of a jar of Peanut Butter I had to resort to using a bread slicing knife, then a pair of pliers to remove lid.
This happens often with soft drink bottles as well. Many times I can not remove the lid and have to cut them off.
I have noticed that sometimes the drink bottle caps have no perforations making it extremely difficult to remove the cap.
Bottles with thin aluminium caps can be a pain as well, also without perforations , with a faulty thread, turning the cap flattens out the thread and the cap goes nowhere.
Exasperating at times.
Anyone here come up against these first world problems?
Pickle jars are the worst, Lol. I think the issue is not raw strength but the fact that my hands have lost the flexible fat layer under the skin that is a big component of gripping ability. shrug.gif
 
The first thing I try is a butter knife, whack the jar in a few places with the handle of the knife. That breaks the seal and I can open it. I also have a five inch circular plastic gripper when needed. Those grippers were something we sold a lot of when I was working. That promotional product was one that customers liked to give a way to clients. I really enjoyed that part of my job, finding interesting things for our customers for trade shows. Another that was really a good deal, a tiny spray bottle of hand sanitizer and that was way before covid came.
 
I often struggle with this kind of plastic cap, and end up hacking at the cardboard to get at the cream.
00068700103636.jpg

Today I tried nudging the cap in a counter-clockwise direction with a knife handle, as suggested by @Blessed . It worked!

I've done the knife trick with jars and so on, but had never thought to do it with those darn caps.
 
I too have trouble. I usually resort to using a plastic gripping jar opener for the stubborn ones or use a knife like many others have said. Although I know it is that my grip is getting weaker it feels like the seal on the lids is getting stronger! Lol!
 
I have a pair of channel-locks at the sink, I use them for many
purposes'....only thing that really gets me is the tiny pills that
are put behind plastic bubble's....and of course the container
that sweet stuff comes in.....:p
 
For metal lids (salsa, peanut butter) the jar is placed upside down on the lowest setting on the stove - check after each increment of 30 seconds; use oven mitts/potholder to turn the lid.

For smaller lids (bottle water, liquids) I use a wrench.
 


Back
Top