A (relatively) obscure can opener taught me something

watched this and giggled. Been using one of these for like 30 years.

TNSheep

My problem is that I am left handed. I have yet to find a left handed anything in a right handed world, Dexter.

Due to you (and I'd been frustrated with traditional can openers for decades) I finally purchased one of these. OMG. What a difference in performance. Mine's just the $10 Amazon Basics version, but it's simple and frankly awesome how it works. I do have lots of canned food, most without pulltops or other. No, I'm not a prepper! I'm not gonna go to the trouble to cook refried beans when they're a $1 a can. Or canned peaches or pineapple. Or many other things. So, my first experience! Brought out a can of refried beans. Put the opener on as suggested. Watched the gearhead engage and realized that there was little friction and no gnashing of gear teeth like in all my former openers. No interior ingredients oozed out over the lid (which is always a potential source for contamination). Surprised how quickly it finished the job. Set the opener aside, and !Voila! the can lid cleanly came off the top. And, it could latch back in place if need be (like in Coreen's story). This is handy since there are times when I'm not going to eat the whole thing, so normally I'd get out the Al foil and make a lid, but no MORE! Thanks again for the video and helping me finally get the impetus to buy one of these kitchen wonders. It's also gonna be great for camping!

Jon Adams

OMG, my family had an "incident" with this sort of can opener many many years ago. In short, we discovered that a bunch of soup cans in our pantry had been opened and placed back on the shelf, subsequently getting extremely moldy. We had no idea how this happened. Sometime later, we find out that it was because our house sitter hadn't ever used this type of can opener, and when she tried, it, she didn't think it worked, because she was used to the lid being punctured from the top. So she kept trying different cans and placing them back when she "couldn't get them opened" lol. I wrote it up in a much better form over on Quora, in answer to the question of what was the strangest thing a guest ever did at your house: https://qr.ae/pGBNY9

Coreen Montagna

I was really surprised, when you pulled out the can openers, because both look so alien to me. I've spent my whole life using something like this https://www.ostfront.com/products/bulgarian-can-opener and something like this https://www.todoparamihogar.com/Pocket-can-opener-Tescoma . I would need manual even for what you call normal can opener. And they are so ridiculously huge! And plasticky! You left me truly confused.

M@trixX

It's hard to find, but safety can openers that have two levers do exist. Instead of having to balance the thing, you place it on the can, pull the two levers together, and the thing snaps in place. I managed to find a video of one (by pampered chef). Not the best video but these things do exist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX_p7rHWp4I

The model number begs for a gag in reference to how it's becoming more difficult to find these units: "I looked for a 404 on the web, but it was Not Found." 😅

Matt Whitlock

My current can opener is exactly like the seam-cutting opener you featured, but I grew up with something even better. You pointed out that the sharp edge isn't as dangerous when using a seam-cutting opener, but I grew up with an opener that didn't *cut* anything at all! The Krups model 404 electric can opener actually uncrimps the lid, effectively unzipping the seam entirely. When you remove the lid, the sides of the can are just bare, without the thin band of lid edge that the seam-cutting openers leave behind. If you've never used a Krups 404, I recommend you acquire one and feature it in a follow-up video. (Maybe don't invoke the magic of buying two of them.)

Matt Whitlock

I got an electric one of this type of can opener just last month. I sure spent a lot of time reading the instructions and I was kinda amazed when it has done its job

On the east coast we have a design that's similar to these but you have to squeeze the wheels together and it seems to crimp the sides of the seam instead of the top, but they're much more frustrating because they always slip or fail to open the can at all.

Sean Levorse

New patron and yep can opener video is exactly what I wanted to kick off 2022! Good luck with the move!

This is exactly why I support your channel... right in my wheelhouse... can openers, dish washers, xmas lights.... keep doin you

I am very familiar with the Safety Can Opener. Me and my family have been using them for years. Do you have a link to the one featured in this video? I don’t mind if it’s an affiliate link. As for you pausing Patreon I totally get where you’re coming from.

Gadgetman

Amusingly, Amazon sells an AmazonBasics brand safety can opener and a standard manual can opener on the same product page for the same price, distinguishing them as "single handle" and "dual handle"

Jennifer Holz

neat, i didn't know these existed. until a few years ago i didn't even know your standard twisty existed, we've always been using the fully manual hook ones like you'd have on a swiss army knife. another thing that might be stuck like this because alternatives are obscure and people just learn the default is the staggered qwerty keyboards layout, there are objectively better alternatives but they're just too uncommon, there might be more barriers for their adoption than for a can opener though. also i like your hair! i think it suits you

Elon to invent hyper-opener

Galen Thurber

what an axe wont do?

Galen Thurber

Opened a can of soup ass on us

Galen Thurber

Everyone in my family has been a convert since years ago, but it can still throw the uninitiated for a loop. I had a friend staying over a few years back and while I was out he tried to make himself a tin of soup. He was so flummoxed by the mysterious device that he ended up resorting to opening the can by brute force with a screw driver.

Alan B.

A whole video talking about can openers, and no worms seems like a lost opportunity :)

Peter

Yes, true, that is a benefit of the older style can openers (which is the style I still have).

Don Eitner

Sideways….. Whaaat! Got a can opener that cuts from the side just like the one you demonstrated. Have had it for a few years now. Really like it! From Switzerland, so must be the best(?) KUHN RIKON Turning knob on top instead of side, so a little weird to use at first. Have never noticed any metal whiskers left behind. Will look to see if there are any. This one, in addition to the knob on the top, has a button on the side that pinches together a little ‘pincer’ that sticks out on one side that can be used to grab the edge of the detached lid for disposal if ya’ doesn’t want to handle it with your fingers. Went to the store today… Can o’ soup… $4.19 ????!!!! OK, it’s the chunky kind… with the mouth watering label. Afraid I’ll be seeing more Campbells Tomato (the one way down on the bottom shelf at the Super that still sports the classic ‘Worhal’ label from when I was a kid) in the coming year, bulked up with lots o’ saltines.

Gary Guttebo

Sorry, didn't note the time index, but I do recall seeing a ".!" in the captions. If you can search them for those two adjacent characters, hopefully they'll turn right up for an easy fix. :) [Edit: oddly compelled to rewatch, it was 17:06; "it lodged in my brain enough to make me look for one and here we are.!" -- now I'm questioning if that was intentional. XD]

Travis Snoozy

Side cutters where you squeeze the two levers together exist in the US as well. OXO has sold several models for at least 15 years.

tim1724

Same here. I keep an old-fashioned can opener around for my mom to use whenever she's visiting and needs to open a can. (Also for the rare can that the seam-cutting can opener has trouble with for whatever reason. But that's maybe once a year at most.)

tim1724

I have one that works that way but is a sort of circular/disk shape, that is placed on top of the can, with the crank on top. It's sort of awkward but does a nice job of lid removal. I suspect the form factor you've got would be easier to use.

Michaela Pereckas

I still prefer the old, dangerous style opener for one thing: pressing the cut, sharp-edged lid into the can and squeeze to drain the water out of a can of tuna (and into a small bowl for the cats).

I'm quite happy to see a video on this style of can opener, my grandmother bought two of the Pampered Chef brand ones when I was in middle school (so somewhere between '04-'07) and one got used in the house while the other sat in the pantry storage until I left for college and took it with me. It still works fine from ten years of use in my kitchen, and as far as I know, the one back home is still going strong too despite being in use even longer. It's a great can opener even if I have to explain how to use it to guests, haha.

What is this new kind of can opener?

You'll never believe what they reinvented... Baked beans but not in a can! https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B015O5A34I

Martin Deutsch

Same here - one of these, in fact: https://amazon.co.uk/dp/B071VJD27T/ I have great difficulty using the top cutting ones.

Martin Deutsch

Fascinating... My current can opener is a side-cut can opener. It also cuts of the rim entirely, so you have a 'sharp-ish' edge on the top of the can. It does however hold on to the lid, so you can rinse it clean and throw it away without touching it at all. Edit: I definitely avoid can openers that drop the lid into the can.

Tossabaddle

What a marvellous thing! I can honestly say, that I have never seen such a solution. I grew up with a totally different can opener - it was old and covered in nasty black rust mixed with probably decades of oily substances. Anyway - it was just a handle with a joint at the end. The joint was ended with a cutting edge. You buried the edge into the can and then pulled repeatedly until you went the whole way around. By the way - I hate how the cans now are made for convenience. The flop top, or how you called it, just cannot last so long. I have seen too many cans rusted around the lid. The good old can can easily last for decades, while this barely handles the stamped shelf life.

I like the starfrit that cuts the wall of the can rather than the lid, although it does leave a somewhat sharp top edge on the can, but avoids the food stuck in the can problem. Certainly the design you consider the default, is to be a piece of garbage.

Lennart Sorensen

Seams to be a good vid about can openers!

Dr. Clyde H. Hedgcoth Jr.

Cool. I didn't know about that. I also feel I have to warn you that this comment is coming. A lot of them: You can actually cut the top of the can with a standard can opener too. You attach it the other way, with the cutting wheel on the side of the can rather than the top/lid. It's not as good as this though, as you can't put the lid back on properly.

Kristian Høy Horsberg

Believe it or not, but here in Russia we have never seen any other type of a can opener rather than the simplest tooth-type opener without any moving parts at all. And that's in the bleak 80's and 90's when canned food was absolutely essential for everyone. You had to puncture the lid and then move it forwards while wiggling it up and down, applying lots and lots of force. Just Google "Soviet can opener" and you'll see what I mean. And that's up to the very 2010's! A rotating wheel? That's too fancy! Just a piece of steel! Works forever and never gives you up.

Andrey Pivovarov

I have to comments. First is that I have a can opener which is unlike either of yours. Mine cuts the lid off by cutting around the edge just like your new, innovative can opener. But it works in a fundamentally different way. It's hard to explain verbally. Regardless, it offers the same benefits although the actually design of the product is very different. Second thing I'll say in regards to people resisting change.. I suspect it's similar to why we still aren't using the Metric system here in the USA despite the fact that the Metric system is easier to learn and easier to use. Some people just prefer doing things the way they've always done them.

The 8-Bit Guy

How you can make an interesting video about something stupid as a can opener 😁. And you answered my burning question in the end 😉. Now I would be expecting a video about clothespins soon, what kind of great improvement they could make on those ones 🤪

MrHammond

A search for "can openers" on Amazon yields safety versions at the top. Internet surveillance active!

Dre

Only if you're lucky. Some have the same diameter for the top and bottom seams, and only stack by balance. Protip: lean them against the cardboard box sides/back that you haven't cut off, makes stocking these annoying ones so much easier.

Stephen Gillie

Walmart sellers a slightly different version that seams to fix the issues you encountered but using the same method.

If leaving a rim that catches the food bothers you so much, why not put the blade of the can opener against the side of the can? Your fancy 40-year-old can opener probably does it better, but nothing's stopping you from using your old piercing can opener to just take the entire top of the can off

"Life is an analysis of prose and Khans" - wait what? Cutting the seam - almost like sewing. Lid going in the can - haven't you ever squeezed all the water out of the tuna can with the lid (and put the juice in a little bowl for kitty)? So convenient, and leaves the grey tuna matter perfectly dry and ready for mayonnaise saladification. My sister has been telling me about this kind of can opener for years. Her safety can opener sometimes leaves a long thin wire between lid and can, because it misses the seam when it comes back around. The technology here is the can opener itself - a fixed or circular blade, a circular tooth to push the can, and a simple lever to engage the whole device. Quite a marvel, as the key to unlock our food. Our age is unlike previous ages, in that 20 years of tech progress for us would be hundreds of years of progress for them. Instead of our next step being an hour on the interstate away, it would be hours or weeks away in a carriage or on horse, or even foot. What this means is that instead of being emotionally ready way before something happens, we're forced to receive upgrades while we're still processing the emotions from the previous one.

Stephen Gillie

The electric versions of these that jump onto your screen when you go to Amazon and look for Can Openers seem pretty cool, and would def help out folks with mobility issues. My frugality and eco-sense would demand I use my wearing-out rechargeable AAs in them which no doubt would result in it failing regularly just when I need it most, so there's that. Also, one of them shows it opening a crimped-at-the-top can which is kinda sweet.

Alan Medsker

Great stuff! I like the simpler and shorter ones

Adam Wishneusky

I also remember seeing this (or similar) on TV years ago being sold as a senior/arthritic-hands friendly option: https://www.asseenontvlive.com/product/hands-free-can-opener/

Rich Jeanes

I have the OXO version of this can opener and couldn't be happier with it. It still has two handles and clamps onto the can like a traditional opener, just rotated on its side. It also has a little pair of pliers for separating the lid from its sealant. Looks like yours might have a magnet on the bottom to pick up lids. I'm curious how well that actually works. Reference: OXO Good Grips Smooth Edge Can Opener https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000079XW2/

Rich Jeanes

EDIT: Clarified this in the end as to why. I jumped the gun. I'm just at the 3:40 mark and I am mildly annoyed that you are turning the can opener anti clockwise even when the handle has wings to help with torque clockwise.

Nishith Thakkar

The can is tapered at the top so they are easier to stack.

Chad M Jones

We have one like this, my mom still has it, we always had it since I can remember and I'm already 36 years old, so this thing is probably older than me. The one we have is without the fancy paint: https://www.bercsekonyha.hu/images/hagyomanyos-lemez-konzervnyito-enger.jpg It catches in the edge and slowly sink the teeth in bite-by-bite. It's not that hard to operate but you gotta learn how to use it and need a bit of a force but I grew up with this type and had no issues with it. When I search "can opener" I can hardly find this type, I can only find it when I search for it in my language.

Dukefazon

I still use the edge cutting one I bought in the mid 80's in the UK. Looking at amazon.co.uk the first search results for "can opener" are all the safety / smooth edge type but since I don't live in the UK anymore I can't comment on what you find in the shops and if all of them are the smooth edge type now anyway.

Richard Bevan

Can only imagine what cleverness went into suppressing the noise of the tossed beverage can….in any case, I had a full-body reaction to the unexpected silence 😅

I think kitchens have a lot of tradition & sentiment involved with them. Can openers may be one of the first complex tools kids learn how to use, so it might be something that people don't want to replace because of the emotional investment in it. That opener does look quite superior from my perspective though.

Jeremy

Okay, I did not expect Can Openers to be another cultural thing, buuut here we are. This kind of can opener is surprisingly common in Germany - or at least where I am. You can get them for cheap in the supermarket. However, there is an interesting difference: our can openers still have two grips, and you just pinch the rim into the wheel that then cuts on the side. The same "cutting the seam on the side" idea, but without the UX issues. This is one example of a product you can find here relatively easy: https://www.wmf.com/de/kuechenhelfer/weitere-kuechenhelfer/dosenoeffner/dosenoeffner-tin-up-2.html - it's German only, but the pictures should be enough. Bonus feature here are the little pliers which help you pull the lid off! Super fun!

I want one. The spirits of my parents look over my shoulders and regularly preach frugality, but I was raised on the left coast and am more of the "ooo shiny!" mindset. Besides, I'm a klutz and cut myself on can lids.

Larry Barker

It's interesting. I'm not sure I'd call it complete obscure, because I am very aware of them, but also the can opener I use—the dual wheel style—is an older-than-I-am family object. And I think that gets to the heart of it. It works as well as it did thirty years ago and presumably long before that. I just haven't had to consider buying a new one. [I've also shifted to fewer canned foods generally over time] I think there are plenty of objects like that, where the average person buys one once, twice, or never in a lifetime—or is buying from a cheap and limited selection many times—and has to be thinking about any new form while buying. So, like I said, I'm aware of them. Were I to buy one, they were already what I'd have gone with, but I also don't foresee having to buy one any time soon, without doing so with intention. And maybe it's Toxic Midwesterninity, but I can't bring myself to spend even just $10 on a new can opener to replace one that's perfectly adequate and already not an everyday item for me. [I also wasn't expecting by the John Roderick reference I believe was in there (and honestly probably should've expected it)]

Kevin Kostka

I stumbled upon one of these a few weeks ago for the first time. They're awesome!

äymm

We bought the OXO Good Grips version of this type of can opener a while back and were absolutely convinced that it was somehow broken because it didn't seem to do anything. We briefly considered bringing it to a family get-together and having a "sword-in-the-stone" style contest to see if anyone could get it to actually open a can. But we just hadn't been turning it long enough, and now we like it better than traditional openers.

Mighty Jabba's Collection

I like the descriptive sound of "turny wheely" as related to can openers. Also sounds like Toxic Midwesterninity is a condition not confined to the midwestern US and is more of a global phenomenon.

Mark Hesse

I love this type of can opener. I have a multi-functional one with a lever. I clamp it on, hold the knob, and then I spin it by the handle to open the can. Quite fast. I can send pics / video if you're interested.

I do like the idea of rhyming it with modernity, but (and I think you probably know) my chosen word is deliberately clunky because I'm silly

Technology Connections

PS I lived near a porn store/sex shop called "Grand Openings", so, yeah...

Chris Daniels

The sentiment behind apologizing for being "esoteric" does seem very Midwestern to me. Southern California, of course, and even in the Northeast, everyday "look what I discovered!" is pretty acceptable. It's a little ironic, perhaps, novelty is so valued in old New England, maybe because we compare ourselves moreso to "old Europe". I also discovered the OXO (based in NYC) can-opener in the 90s. BTW, you realize this same process drives biological evolution and the original meaning behind "meme" that Dawkins coined years ago. Its "survival of the fittest" for technology, as in so many things. Novelty is rarely valued for itself, it needs a good mechanism to replicate and spread.

Chris Daniels

Toxic Midwesterninity? May I suggest Midwesternity instead? Pronounced MidwestAIRnity as in modAIRnity. Sounds rather more sophisticated, don't you think? Nahh, forget it, Midwesterninity is good enough (spoken like a true Midwesterner). Funnily enough, last Thanksgiving, I was presented with one of these new-fangled can openers to use for the first time. I tried several different ways to use it, but just couldn't figure it out at which point I was given a demonstration.

Mark Hesse

Ah, cans. Cans teach us a lot about life. As a kid in Northwest England, we had a can opener something like this : https://www.amazon.co.uk/AmandaJ-Remover-Professional-Ergonomic-Kitchen/dp/B07X57QF4S/ref=asc_df_B07X57QF4S/?tag=&linkCode=df0&hvadid=427881393306&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8760458806545822721&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046582&hvtargid=pla-923261404941&ref=&adgrpid=99265826763&th=1 I still have scars from using it. Even at the age of 7 I was aware of alternative solutions and asked my father why we didn't have one of the turny wheely ones. He said something about the "throwaway society" we had now. Our can opener wasn't broke, so we didn't need another. And, as you can see, that opener has NO MOVING PARTS so it never broke. I think my mother eventually "lost" it. Canned food did decline a lot in the 90s. I worked in retail at the time and the space given to cans declined steadily over the years. I suspect it's because of the rise of food banks here in the UK - tins are for poor people. OH, but you should have seen it when the pandemic hit in 2020. Customers went into manic prepper mode. Couldn't keep those cans stocked quick enough. I had no idea borlotti beans and mulligatawny soup would one day be popular again. I guess what I'm saying is that people, including my father and can-shunners, are intrinsically lazy and need a push every so often to consider other things. They're unlikely to do it themselves as what they have and believe currently is easy and comfortable for them. Btw, it's 6:15am here. When my phone email pinged at 5:40am, I thought "That's got to be Technology Connections on Patreon.".

Matthew Lawrenson

I have the OXO version of this. My mom thought that it was weird alien technology.