This cartoon made me laugh. I can’t include it here without paying for it, but it shows a fellow with a very muscular right arm standing next to a sign saying,
WILL OPEN
YOUR
PICKLE JAR
$5
It reminded me of a couple of months ago when Andy said as he was leaving, “I left the pickle jar out because I can’t open it.”
This is what I saw when I went into the dining room.
He had meant the two of us could deal with it when he got home that afternoon. Instead I viewed it as a challenge. I first tried to see if I could open it using the strap wrench, but no luck. Then I did the usual trick of warming the lid under hot water, so it would expand more than the glass, then hitting the edges with the back of a big knife.
Still no luck. We had another jar of a different brand in the cupboard, so I got that out. It opened easily, no tricks needed. I figured after we were done with that jar I could pry the stubborn one open with a can opener and put its pickles in the new jar.
Then I decided to try one more thing. I put some water in a dish with water about the depth of the first lid, then heated the water boiling hot in the microwave. When I took the dish and water out I upended the problem jar into the dish and waited until the lid got very hot. Then I put the jar right side up and banged on the lid with the back of knife to break the seal.
It worked! Of course, I now had two opened jars of pickles in the refrigerator for a while, but I was still chuffed. I didn’t need to find someone and pay him $5 for help.
LOL
I’ve a type of vinyl that is for holding dishes on the bench so they don’t move – but now I’ve got a new mat, the old vinyl stuff works well to get a leverage on similar jars.
But also I’ve found that a latex disaposable glove does a great job as well…
Andy thought if we had had trouble he would have taken it up to the land and used a vice to hold the jar.
Way to go! I’m sure there’s a reason manufacturers’ seal those jars so tightly, but what a pain. I’m always terrified the jar will fly out of my hands and splinter on the floor.
They can be a pain!
You are so creative! I have a ton of all different kinds of can openers, so I can usually find one that works. There are these little plastic things that you just stick the edge under the top and POP it. Only for glass jars. Then it twists off really easily. I think they are under five dollars, I have two.
Here is a link to it on amazon so you can see what I’m talking about. I hope you can get the link.
http://www.amazon.com/s?k=jar+popper+lid+opener&crid=1OLI1C5PJCJ99&sprefix=jar+top+popper%2Caps%2C69&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_14
Thanks! The link worked and I bought two of them, just in case we have that problem again.
If you can’t get the link, just go to Amazon and search for jar top popper.
I have a half dozen jar openers but I still have to struggle getting jars open from time to time. Your method is extreme but you can’t argue with success.
I was pleased about the whole thing. 🙂
You go girl! Persistence worn out! All the things that you did is what I do if Bob can’t open it I fall back on those things. Last week we had one that he could not open which is very odd because he has really strong hands. But I’ve never tried the boiling water just the hot water. I’ll be checking out the link to see what those things look like that Ginny told you about. The cartoon is hilarious
I do get stubborn at times. 😀
Where there’s a will there’s a way. Good job. I would have taken that as a challenge as well and you can bet that I would have had it open just like you did.
Yes! Hurray for persistence. 🙂
You should tell Andy at first that you just twisted it right off, no problem, and demand $5 from him. Then when, or if, he has paid up, you can tell him the true story.
🙂
Next time try putting the wrench on the jar…it might work. The reason I say this is when mom and I canned, we would have a feedsack type dish towel. We would dip it in water and wring excess water out. Then take the dishrag/towel and wrap it around the jar and hold the jar because to tighten the lid on. So one day here a bit ago, I was having trouble opening a jar, so I tried that and it worked. So in a way, that was a homemade strap wrench. If you ever try it, tell me if it works.
Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂
That worked out well for you. They are always so hard to open.
I was pleased it worked. 🙂