2 From the Tool Box to the Kitchen Drawer

[obillo]

Jar-openers come in many designs, mostly clumsy and of limited capacity: to buy one is to discover on a sudden that you have an unlimited supply of jars and bottles either too big or too small. I use and recommend a strap wrench, aka oil-filter wench, available from any auto-supply store. Of course it always helps to remember to try slipping a screwdriver (never a knife) under the edge of the lid--a little twist can do wonders--and to twist the bottle, not the cap. Can't possibly cost over foive bucks, except at Williams-Sonoma.

Every house painter has a little gadget that serves as a handle for a single-edge razor blade. Best thing ever for scraping the blots that inevitably get on window panes when painting sash and muntins. Also the best thing ever for scraping the burnt bottoms of pans or the ceramicized drips baked onto glass stovetops. Pretty much eliminates the need for sprays and chemical cleaners. If you can't find one for less that three bucks you're not looking hard enough.

 

[HeyItsSara]

Nice!

 

[pepperhead212]

I have a few of those single edge razor blades in my kitchen, in another thing I have about ten of in my workshop, shed, and back porch - SS bowls, with magnets on the bottom, to hold them on things (the one in the kitchen is on the side of my convection oven), and hold things like screws, bolts, and similar items - in this case, razor blades! I use them mostly for scraping labels off things, though I still have a container of acetone on the back porch, for the more difficult things.

 

[obillo]

I have a few of those single edge razor blades in my kitchen, in another thing I have about ten of in my workshop, shed, and back porch - SS bowls, with magnets on the bottom, to hold them on things (the one in the kitchen is on the side of my convection oven), and hold things like screws, bolts, and similar items - in this case, razor blades! I use them mostly for scraping labels off things, though I still have a container of acetone on the back porch, for the more difficult things.

Thanks, Dave. I'll try the blade on labels--should have thought of that myself.

 

[thymeless]

I like the plastic razor blades for this purpose. Safer, won't scratch. Also used for scraping paint originally.

 

[Marlingardener]

I love my pliers! I have a pair of pliers dedicated to kitchen use. They come in handy for pulling the integument off pork ribs, to get a good grip on a small jar while getting it open for the first time, and for multiple other uses. I also have one of the paint scrapers and use it to clean burnt on messes on the glass top stove, and to scrape off the remains of labels on jars I plan to reuse.
Not exactly a tool, but the cheap chip paint brushes are great for basting. At the grocery or restaurant supply, they cost about $1.50 each. I get a multi-pack of 2 inch brushes at Harbor Freight for much less. They survive the dishwasher and one will last me for quite a while.

 

[obillo]

Good idea about pliers. Especially good for caps of small bottles or half-and-half containers, some of which are irritatingly stubborn.

 

[taxlady]

No, not pliers on the small caps. It's too easy to deform them with the pliers. Whenever you get a wide elastic band, like with broccoli, save it. Those are very useful for those small caps and for jar lids. I use that before I use the screwdriver or strap wrench. Or, instead of a wide rubber band, rubber tubing works really well.

 

[dragnlaw]

I disagree taxy, LOL - but to each their own! I generally use slam bang or an elastic. But there are times you can't slam (as in the plastic screw lid on a carton pint of cream) and it is just too tiny and awkward to use an elastic.

I have a small(tiny!) pair of adjustable pliers that I use on those stubborn little lids and it works a charm. Have never deformed a lid yet. Not saying it couldn't happen if someone gets over zealous, just I have never wrecked one... yet.

I also think that if it should ever get wrecked because the lid was literally glued on - then fine, pour the balance into another container!

 

[taxlady]

I disagree taxy, LOL - but to each their own! I generally use slam bang or an elastic. But there are times you can't slam (as in the plastic screw lid on a carton pint of cream) and it is just too tiny and awkward to use an elastic.

I have a small(tiny!) pair of adjustable pliers that I use on those stubborn little lids and it works a charm. Have never deformed a lid yet. Not saying it couldn't happen if someone gets over zealous, just I have never wrecked one... yet.

I also think that if it should ever get wrecked because the lid was literally glued on - then fine, pour the balance into another container!

I have never had the issue with the cream cartons, but I can see how that could happen. That's different. The lid is plastic. If it gets squished too hard it will most likely break, not deform like metal. The metal ones can get so deformed that they are virtually impossible to get off.

Back in the 1970s, I worked in hospitals. Do you remember the glass bottles that were used for IV fluids back then? Well, those lids came with a rubber stopper and you didn't need to take them off to get the IV tube into them. They were a sort of ring with threads, that held the rubber stopper in place. They weren't meant to come off for use. The empty bottles went back to the factory, where, I guess, they had a machine take them off. In any case, sometimes we needed some of the type of fluids that were in those bottles, e.g., Ringer's lactate, glucose, physiological saline, ... So, we had to get those lids off. One shift, I walked into a room with several strong, young men. They were using pliers to try to get it off. I could see the metal lid deforming and they just couldn't get it open. I told them to stop. I grabbed some rubber tubing and showed them how to do it. I had learned that either in a different ward or a different hospital. They were flabbergasted that I could manage to open it, when they couldn't with all their big muscles.

 

[obillo]

No, not pliers on the small caps. It's too easy to deform them with the pliers. Whenever you get a wide elastic band, like with broccoli, save it. Those are very useful for those small caps and for jar lids. I use that before I use the screwdriver or strap wrench. Or, instead of a wide rubber band, rubber tubing works really well.

I've had no trouble with pliers but I like the broccoli bands. I always save them anyway.

 

[Katie H]

Both my husband and I have severe arthritis in our hands and we've discovered an opener that has been a godsend. We love it. Have a look here: https://www.amazon.com/Suffering-Ar...Slip-Heavy-Duty/dp/B07QVWJ6VN?ref_=ast_sto_dp

 

[taxlady]

Both my husband and I have severe arthritis in our hands and we've discovered an opener that has been a godsend. We love it. Have a look here: https://www.amazon.com/Suffering-Ar...Slip-Heavy-Duty/dp/B07QVWJ6VN?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Thanks for sharing that link. Nice to see someone I "know" say it works.

 

[obillo]

I bought one for my wife 2w weeks ago. She loves it; I think it rates OK+. Buy if she's happy . . .

 

[pepperhead212]

I sometimes need some pliers, or other tools in the kitchen, and I keep a mini-workshop on my back porch, just outside my kitchen - this way, I don't have to walk downstairs! Those Channel-loc pliers I have found great for getting small lids off some smaller containers, and haven't ever damaged anything with them. I have a cheap magnetic holder for the pliers, and a bunch of clippers for plants (though most are in the shed). And here's that magnetic bowl with the razor blades in it. I got 6 or 7 of those things through the years at Harbor Freight, for 99¢, and they are very handy to have for working on all sorts of things, to hold metal items.
A few pliers outside the back door of my kitchen. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Here's that magnet bowl, sitting vertical on the side of my oven. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

 

[blissful]

This little needle nose pliers helps me get the foil cap off the top of the bottles, the one under the lid. It comes in handy and I ought to get another one dedicated to the kitchen.

 

[dragnlaw]

I have a variety of tools from both my crafts - workshop - kitchen. And seeing as these rooms are now all within a couple of steps of each other... LOL

That magnet dish - I love mine. Repairing chicken coops you don't wan't a bunch of metal pieces/staples hanging around. Works beautifully - just pass it over the wood shavings and they are all picked up.

 

[taxlady]

This little needle nose pliers helps me get the foil cap off the top of the bottles, the one under the lid. It comes in handy and I ought to get another one dedicated to the kitchen.

I like this idea. Lots of stuff has fiddly foil or plastic that has to be removed. Heck I even have a bag of frozen peas that came in a zipper bag and I accidentally cut the top off too close to the zipper. They would come in handy there.

 

[pepperhead212]

I have a miniature needle-nose I keep in my kitchen - I'll have to remember to use it to peel those seals.

 

[taxlady]

I have a small adjustable wrench that I use in the kitchen. It has now collected a bunch of kitchen goo and I can't turn the whatever-you-call-the-thing-you-turn to adjust it. Who knows the best way to clean that? WD-40?