Lessons from a Can Opener
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- Published on Jan 13, 2022
- If any of you have something to say about my hair, I'm gonna need you to can it. Unless you like it, then please shower me with compliments!
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Science & Technology
Even though it was patented back in the 80’s, it’s still cutting edge technology.
Get out of my head get out of my head get out of my head
'80s.
And it always will be
Can you explain?
Ba dum tsshhh
Who else feels like the entire purpose of this video was to make a point to get his friend to throw his old stepladder away?
My dad had an old step ladder he should've thrown away years ago. And then it broke while he was using it to clean the gutters and he fell and broke his arm.
Don't break your arm Mr. C! Get a new ladder instead and destroy the old one so nobody gets hurt on it.
bruh what
I refuse to throw out my old step ladder!
Fancy seeing you here, just watched your video today lol
🤣
It's his dad - Mr. C - Mr. Connections.
“My boy Ardee” got me.
This channel is exactly what youtube was made. No cheesy elongated intros, no repetitive pleadings for likes and subscribes, no overpriced generic merch. Humor, history, science and technology.
I'd just like to once again show appreciation for the thought and care that goes into the captioning. The trademark symbol on Fine was a nice touch, absolutely top notch.
I'm glad someone else noticed, haha!
6:01 - I was wondering how that soda can fell with no sound, but then I remembered Alec is in a frictionless vacuum.
@The Forge Master Yes it is there, but way attenuated compared to "realistic" levels, because of his shitty microphone setup (which is quite obvious, given how faint the sounds was from the cans and can openers as well)
It's definitely there, the thud is just a little later than expected, at 6:02. It sounds like it falls on a sleeping bag or something.
@Speeder84XL Yeah, there is a whole science to it. No wonder "sound engineer" can be learned here in Germany as a university degree, or as sound technician in a 3-4 year apprenticeship. (The university part has some more theory while the apprenticeship of course is more hands one. I would mind neither doing the job, as both are usually highly skilled.) And then there are even specialties if you are studying movie arts, where you can delve into those specialized realms as well.
And while I know some through reading and doing, I would put myself at best on a lower amateur level. Also I am less in videography than still photography. And neither was part of my computer engineering studies, although, working with telephony systems, I get into the nastyness of microphones and speakers in form of head sets more often than I like.
@Alexander Kupke It's different if you intend to do some sort of a mix that can't be done from one spot to get all sounds you want. But for filming, the best viewing/listening experience is usually to have the microphone close to where you would have you are ears if standing at camera position (perceived position actually - so, if a telephoto lens is used, the mic should ideally be closer than the camera).
Best setup is in most cases, is to use 2 omnidirectional microphones in stereo with 34-37 cm between
(that will give a sound very close to "binarual recording" without the need for a complicated dummy head setup. Also the greater spacing, compared to typical ear distance, will give better stereo perception when played back thru speakers, without sacrifice much of the listening experience thru headphones).
Directional mics could be used in some cases - but those have a very poor low frequency response that makes them quite useless as high quality camera mics.
The specifications for such mics, often shows they have a linear response all the way down to 20 Hz, but that's (due to the their acoustic and physical properties) usually only valid for close range recording at a certain distance (often not more than 60 cm from the sound source). Any closer than that it will have too much bass (which most studio people are well aware of. For example pod casters like to use it, to make their voice more "bassy", 🙃). But, further away, the bass is attenuated by quite a lot instead (which makes them poor camera microphones).
13:33 - these can openers have internal mechanics that will give out far quicker than the lever on a standard can opener. My parents have stripped four of them already, meanwhile the can opener from my childhood sits in the drawer unused because my mother lacks the hand-strength to lever it. However, it IS the one that comes out for tuna fish sandwiches as the newer style of can opener does not lend itself well to the straining of can contents by pressing the cut (and prewashed) lid down and into the can to press out the tuna water/oil.
@Me Here Not being able to eat alliums or tomatoes, I understand the challenge. That having been said, it wouldn't be that difficult to make a vegan meal plan with no wheat, nuts, or legumes - legumes being the most difficult to replace and also the reason why I still use my non-safety can opener. (As well as canned tuna, chicken, etc for the family.)
I just fold the lid a bit across the center line, then it is smaller than the can along one dimension and no chance of the edge cutting your hand when squeezing the juice out.
@Jennifer Nykanen Vegan diets are also hellaciously allergy unfriendly. I’d like to see a vegan create a meal plan that doesn't contain any kind of legume, nut, or wheat. They can't.
@Don Robertson This is the reason fish farms exist and tuna companies work so hard to use dolphin safe fishing practices. You're also not considering that canned tuna is the cheapest low fat protein source that millions of poor families depend on. Yes, vegetarian and vegan diets are a thing but they are often cost prohibitive and require supplementation to maintain health. That combo puts them out of reach for the poor. I can appreciate your compassion for the animals but it would serve you well to remember that humans are also animals and also deserving of that same compassion.
@Dylan Goodwin
LOL I currently have a can of Salmon in fridge ,lol. I like my Salmon and Tuna cold. Chop up some celery and fresh black pepper and whatever spread I'm in the mood for and make a sammy.
as an older person I had a hard time with traditional can openers, so I tried the side (seam) cutting can opener. it is easer on my wrist and hands, cuts clean and with little effort. I find it to be very effective. This is coming from a mechanical designer with over 40 years experience. I highly recommend this for older people, or people with medical issues.
I've had one since the 90s and it still works fine. It opens every can I ever tried. My favorite part of owning it is watching other people who aren't aware of this type of can opener try to use it. The 25 seconds of ensuing chaos and confusion is fun every time.
My example of amazing improvements since I was a kid is the new design of scaffold connectors, replacing the split pin and toggle with a post and locking bar design. Vast improvement. The old design would get jammed up with dirt or paint and soon require a hammer to move. The new design can be fished on from several feet down the diagonal cross rod.
Now I expect a video on cans. From the hard soldered ones, that could be quite dangerous if done improperly, through the war year ones, to the modern ones with liners that essentially eliminate problems with botulism. And all the rabbit holes to square cans, flat cans, integrated openings, whether key, pop top, etc, to the self heating cans for military, and survival use. Easily another video or two in there.
You realize that it will be a four part video running to two hours . . and that you'll watch and enjoy all of it.
Worse, at some point you'll tell a friend about the video and get that odd uncomprehending stare back.
@Jen Sell I'm surprised that channel still exists! Typical social media, dragging their feet, instead of banning spammers. At least the comments disappear for you after you report them, but it really gets old after a while.
@Martin Lebl Canned food is actually cooked in the cans, after they are sealed!
Max support for this idea!
Now on a video about can openers, I think there are three methods worth mentioning:
1. taking a regular roundblade opener (like in 3:28) and turn it horizontally, letting the blade run on the outside of the can and the counterwheel on the inside of the lid. That pops the head off of the can which admittedly leaves a sharp edge on the top of the cylinder, but it's a good alternative when the regular way does not give you enough grip. also helps with situations like 9:37
2. the repetitive punctuation method with the can opener tool of a swiss army knife
3. no tools: simply bending the can back and forth at half the height of the can until it becomes weak and brakes in half
Today I learned that cans are sealed mechanically. Amazing, both that this is the way cans work and that I could go 50+ years without knowing it.
I can still remember my first time using one of these. It was at a restaurant I worked at. They had a mounted can opener on the table back by the sink, like it's a whole thing that clamps down and was screwed into the table. I was told to get some tomato puree, big can, size if my head. I am using this thing and feel like I'm not cutting anything the whole time, there's a knife on the bottom of the can opener like old ones and is intended for opening juices. I literally just stabbed the can open with that thing, probably the most jagged and unsafe can opening you will ever see, all because it didn't feel like it was cutting lol. Felt really dumb when they showed me how it worked lol. Everytime I saw that can in the walk in for the next week I saw evidence of me just going full ape.
My Mom had one of these years ago and she loved it. I just bought because of your video in her memory. It is the best little tool ever. Works like a charm! Thanks!
It's funny! I had seen the safety opener a long while back used by somebody. I thought it was a very good product and looked for it and instead got the 2nd type of opener you mentioned which didn't work well at all. For a long time I thought what I had seen was a hallucination until you mentioned it here! I'm going to get it now that I know it is real!
That's a hilarious story. It'd be like seeing someone conjure magic and then never seeing it happen again.
Stupid idea:
Getting a UK kettle to work on US 240V with a Nema 6-15 plug.
HI MEHDI!!
No wait! Open a can with a microwave oven! Just sublimate the rim with a few arcs, while heating your tomato soup!
Might take some time though to get used to Peach Melba with hot peaches.
I used to have a "side-cutter" that still had two handles that you had to close together to make it start cutting - same as a top-cutter. It did not have the automatic clamping that yours has. Why is that better than yours? Two words...LEFT HANDERS. Because mine was completely ambidextrous - it opens the can identically whether you clamp the handles together on the left or the right side of the can - and whether you turn the handle clockwise or counter-clockwise. Sadly, it did eventually wear out - and I have yet to find a replacement.
Have you tried Ned Flanders' Leftorium?
We've had one of these for years! It's actually a clamp-style like traditional can openers, but it cuts the seam rather than the interior of the lid. It also has a tiny grabber for the lid that's near-useless.
I find it interesting, that the most common, in my experience, can opener wasn't even mentioned. A metal plate, with a hooked hole, and a sharkfin style blade. Opens cans, leaves nice, sharp lids. :)
@Omer Magen Aaah! Ok, so it is the "German can opener"! 😂 The plow part, the upper part of the spade, responsible for "the opening" isn't even sharp! So, basically it just pushes the metal to the sides... it does not cut or slit... nope, just mushes the tin and some zinc plating rubs off from the cans rust proof inner layer and form clumps of zinc, zinc dusting, zinc goo along the gouge the spade/plow leaves behind! The plow isn't even asymetrical to tend to stay near edge of can, no no, it can sometime take a heading more inward towards can center! But, it stays usually within about 1-5mm of can edge. Geez! The much simpler "swedish" (nordic?) opener is dangerous/prone to stab you if you rush it... which you always do because it only opens 3-4 mm per full stroke so it gets tedious. Ramming the German spade thru the lid definitely takes some effort and is not exactly confortable to hammer with a bare hand (if you do proper work with your hands daily its no problem, but I doubt many more than 10-15% of women would be able to cope with it without more tools).
@Paxmax In boot camp we had these to open field rations and they were so horrible I brought a turning handle one from home and to my surprise i had to teach some of my friends to use it
Opens cans and hands in any demands! 😂 I found a worse one (or I actually need the instructions). The german opener: it has a vertical "V" pointed spade you need to ram through the lid from top. That spade is on a swiveling plate riveted to the handle. The handle has a series of small agressive shark fin tooth in a radius that gets traction on the outside of the rim. Then you drag the spade/swivel plate behind the handle when it feeds forward. Like a (dull) plow it works its way thru/around the lid while the handle bites into can outer rim. I hope there is a smarter way to get the spade through than the brute force i use 😂 technically i do not know if my opener is infact "the german can opener", it was the only one available to buy in the village store.
Yup, I'm Swedish and here, generally, there's not even that mechanical version TC sees as default. So we're two steps behind, by this standard.
I love those types of can openers. I've been using them for over a decade lol
I've even "adapted" regular can openers to open along the outside rather than inside the rim because the outside opening method is so superior.
"Assume a standard can in a frictionless vacuum." This, this right here is why I love your videos. Thank you!
HE FORGOT TO SPECIFY THE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
Opening a can of worms... ? :-)
This is awesome without context lol
@mgjk Hmm... or maybe a SURPRISE LIGHTSABER!
"Assume X is a stochastic can-variable, normally distributed with a mean of tomato soup and a standard deviation of chunks. Let Y be a process such that Y(t)=X(t)+W(t), where W(t) is a canned Wiener-sausage process. Find a function g(t) such that g(t)*Y(t) is a martingale with respect to a filtration F."
Got one of those as a kid and the thing I remember is it had trouble with cans that weren't completely round. If there was a dent, then it would have trouble. It also didn't last very long before it broke. I think the mechanism that pulls the drive wheel in can wear out quickly, at least with the one we had. The traditional double wheel is much more reliable of getting the job done. Hopefully they have improved over the last few decades.
Interesting thing, I seem to encounter mostly the pullopen type things here these days but I couldn't find my can opener a few months ago and still haven't gotten my own after borrowing one from my neighbour briefly to open the can on that day. I think I'll try one of these contraptions first to see how I like it, they aren't that expensive and also a bit more compact in the kitchen drawer.
Keep it up, you’re a great showman and I love the care put into everyday inefficiencies !
You're so right! When I discovered this type of can opener it blew my mind! Mine didn't have instructions so it took me forever to figure out, but since then I've never looked back!
About a decade ago, I picked up an Oxo Good Grips version of the new fangled can opener design, and have never looked back. A simple idea, executed brilliantly.
This content is addicting in a really strange way
Great work!
Saw this video the day it was released, instantly bought one on Amazon. Since we have little ones, we’ve fully converted to this new type of can opener.
This video had me get one of these can openers.
Frankly, I've never looked back. Thank you for your
video, making me aware of this wonderful new (old)
technological improvement!
Best tcon video in a long time, very thought provoking! Embrace that inquisitive sort of vsauce vibe, it really rounds out the usual snarky, pedantic tone (which I'm a huge fan of btw) quite nicely
Great video and I loved the turn it took! It made me think more about my daily routines more than I expected today
Thank you so much. I bought one of these in the UK after seeing your video, and like you, I just can't fathom how these are not the default can opener these days. Keep up the good work.
Thank you for this video. After I watched it I bought a can opener you've shown. It saved me during the first days of the war.
When I was a teenager, the lawnmower my parents owned had a self propelling feature which didn't work. This made the lawnmower a heavy push mower. The need for a replacement wasn't very high for my parents despite my complaints. This one worked just fine. When I moved out, however, they promptly bought a riding mover.
What happens when the rider’s transmission goes out? Then you’ll have a really really heavy push mower?
But seriously, a self propelled mower in good shape is very easy to deal with after training half your life with the extra weight of a failing self propelled. I once used my neighbor lady’s mower, a normal (gas) push mower and it felt so light and free rolling compared to my dad’s with worn down tires that wouldn’t engage the metal drive things.
This kind of thing drove adolescent me totally berserk.
It's truly amazing how similar many parents are to the very teenagers they complain about! 😆
Man I love those ones, wish I still had one because it was so easy to use and open cans
Great video. Just a point of thought. With items like diced tomato with green chili, I would always keep an older can opener around because I use the cut piece of lib to “push” into the can you squeeze out the juice I don’t want.
This is key for pressing the water out of tuna cans
I knew what this video was about almost immediately when I saw it. I have one of those "safety can openers" and it has baffled me for years that they are not more popular. I should also note that there are a lot of ones with this disign that are alot more intuative to use than the one you showed.
My favorite can opener is the Amco 407 Swing-A-Way. It flips completely open for easy cleaning and can be used to fully open empty aluminum cans for draining bacon/ground beef grease.
When I found your channel I was amazed at how you had the ability to make a 25 minute video about detergent in dishwashers interesting even for your target audience of curious people. I was pleasantly surprised at not 1, not 2 but 3 video essays about Christmas lights. So I don't know why my first reaction at seeing the title of this video was "has he gone too far, is a 20 minute video about can openers really needed?". I'm sorry I doubted you. This was great.
Never too far.
@Gavin Ens This was a great video!
I discovered the chanel through a video explaining why brown isn't a colour.
Completely agreed! And now I actually use my dishwasher because I know what it was missing to make it work correctly 💪🏻
#DeathToDishwasherPods
A target audience of curious people. We are out there, that’s for sure.
Wow, this is interesting. The can opener I grew up with is the same style as the one that you mentioned as being the obscure one. I had no idea people still used other kinds of can openers.
After years of dealing with frustrating canopeners, this video prompted me to buy a new one and now I can consistently open cans without issue. My life is 0.01% better now.
I've had one of these for about a year, and I have to agree that it's an upgrade over the old style. I mean, it's not gonna set the world on fire, but it IS at least slightly nicer.
Most interesting video to do entirely with tin/aluminum cans I've watched since engineerguy made a vid about the manufacturing of cans. Sometimes the most seemingly mundane objects have interesting details.
I like the side cutter version, if I come across one in the supermarket, I'd buy it.
This is exactly why I love this channel. You never know what you’re going to get next. An in-depth takedown of dishwasher detergent packs? Yep. A continuation of a years-long hot take about Christmas lights? Sure, why not. A video about a weird can opener? You betcha.
I mean those are all fairly common household objects, there's a pretty predictable pattern to "what you're going to get next".
@Doctor Nemmo Right?! I now use the correct amount of powder, and use the prewash cup. What a difference!
His dishwasher episode was a life saver for me.
not to forget an in depth rant why his toaster is better than ours
A series about the last 200-ish years of gas-fueled lighting? Sign me up.
It's been a month since you posted this video. I thought it was a great idea and immediately ordered one. I really like it. Thanks for bringing this gadget to my attention.
Watching these videos makes me feel like i understand more about the world around me and I think that's neat!
Growing up, I hated our can opener. Even when my parents bought a new one, it never seemed to cut properly and was a pain to use.
I can proudly declare I've been an owner of a safety can opener for about 5 years and couldn't be happier with it.
My Kuhn Rikon safety 'lid lifter' can opener works great and I've had it for about 15 years! Built to last as well as safer, I feel.
The tapered top of the "chunky soup can" allows nesting when they are stacked on the shelf. I learned this when trying to stock shelves of cans that were the same diameter on top and bottom.
I hated all non-stackable cans with a passion when working retail, I wish all manufacturers thought about it for a second oof
@Raingram some Heinz can products have identical diameters on the top and bottom, some don’t. It burns my soul whenever i have to stack some heinz beans and sweet corn.
When you knock that one off that top of the back stack and have to dig it out 🤬
what surprises me most is that his can is slimmer at the top. I've only ever seen it done at the bottom, with the rim practically as wide as the can itself, just so that it fits inside the other side.
Perhaps it's a Europe/America thing, but I've only ever seen cans with the taper on the bottom. I normally open the bottom of cans because it's easier to get the contents out if it's something like baked beans or a chunky soup, which means tapered and ring-pull cans go in the cupboard upside down.
When I moved out on my own (this was 30 years ago) I received a can opener from my Grandmother. It was an Ekco Heavy Duty 'Precision' can opener that appears to be some kind of die cast aluminum or zinc. Much like you I have not looked for another can opener simply because this one still works perfectly. Thank you for the video.
We have used one of those rim can openers for years! We absolutely love it, and it really has changed our outlook on buying canned food. To our amusement, it confuses and amazes any guests that want to get involved in our kitchen.
After watching this video I purchased a safety can opener from eBay. It works so well that the electric can opener has been retired. So easy to use even though I have problems with grip and no more sharp edges to cut myself on.
Thanks to your video I bought my first ever can opener. 2 months later, I've only used it once. Lesson learned. Almost all cans in Europe don't need a can opener. Still cool technology though.
While watching this video, when you mentioned the question of "how many things in our life have been drastically improved, yet we dont adopt them as a society?" I was really hoping you would mention some other tools that are exactly that. I think making a video centered around that question would be something I for sure would love to watch. I'm sure im not the only one.
@Mr. Popo You're right, I dont NEED him to do it for me at all. I think id prefer not to spend time critically thinking to find ways i can open a can slightly better. This stuff isn't life changing. You could say "just do some critical thinking!!" in response to most product videos on TheXvid. Why watch a review of a product? just do some critical thinking instead of letting someone else do it for you.
I want to throw it out there that the ice cream scoops with the lever thing? They suck compared to a nice weighty spoon-shaped scoop. There's a reason they don't use the "normal" kind in ice cream shops.
You could say he opened a whole new can of worms with that question ;)
May i suggest "all of these can be attached to a standard power drill" video.
If you pop the handle off any of the hand can openers you can put them in the chuck of a hand drill easily
Or you could do as he intended and think critically for yourself. You don't need someone else to do it for you.
I love this kind of video along with the automatic toaster vid that originally brought me to your channel "Obscurely better technologies" hope to see more!
When I was growing up, my parents had a can that was sort of a hybrid of the "standard design" and this one. I could never get it to work for me, and I think that failing was due, in part, to my being a leftie.
I love your videos. The explanations are the best.
Just wondering: how does a carbon monoxide detector work?
When I moved out of my parent's house and in with friends, I went from using a classic can opener to a "safety" can opener. For ten years I took for granted that when I open a can, the lid won't fall into the food and have to be fished out, and can be used to re-seal the can for refrigeration lasting at least a couple of days.
Then I helped my mom make enchiladas back at home and used a classic can opener again.
This video has motivated me. I'm going to inventory what kind of can openers everyone in my family use, and if they don't have a "safety" style one, they're getting one as a gift this year.
This fits oddly well with the side discussion:
“I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies,” writes Douglas Adams in The Salmon of Doubt.
1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.
2. Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.
3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things."
@Cheyanne I but that's wrong. that is how very, very _recent_ society 'works.' everyone prior to pretty recently listened to, respected, and tried to keep their viewpoints in line with everyone who came before them.
Get your mind out of the 'Enlightenment' trap and you'll find yourself a lot more correct.
@Kairu Hakubi yes, that's how society works. Every generation after you grows up in a different world and sees a different, superior way of doing things.
@Kairu Hakubi Can you give even a single example? People clearly have no clue what you're on about, so examples are needed to prove your point.
This is awesome
Both my wife and I have horror stories based on opened cans. Mine having happened because a can wasn't completely open, so I now always fully open them. Her's caused by a jagged can lid, so she always leaves it attached. It's been a struggle until this video came along. Thank you sir.
2-3 years ago, I was upset about the jagged sharp edges ordinary can openers made. I searched many stores near me for different types of can opener. and what I found was this type that looks sooo different comparing to other typical type models, and it was more expensive and aesthetically more attractive to me. Curiosity made me to purchase it and try it out.
It didn't take me too long to learn how to use it. I actually figured it out in less than 1 minutes. I immediately decided this is my favorite can opener for its perfect performance, which tooke me time to think about the mechanism it works on.
This channel helped me pick a better microwave when I used to think it didn't matter (my popcorn preset makes the best pop corn). I suppose my next can opener purchase will be more thought out as well.
I've used this type fort 25 years or more I guess. I currently have an electirc and manual one. I'm surprised you didn't show off the magnet to lift the lid with.
a 22 minute video about can openers? YES PLEASE
I'm eagerly looking forward to the follow up video. Acknowledging that it will be hard to top the sequel on dishwashers.
Reading the comment section to a 22 minute video on can openers. Don't mind if I do.
Glad to be in the company of those who recognize how epic this is.
@Peter Peirce But it’s Alec’s throwaway filler comments that make his videos so worthwhile!
My parents got a can opener similar to that one when I was growing up. It was touted as a "safety can opener" since it left a rounded edge on the lid. It had a "squeezing" mechanism like a normal can opening to bring the teeny cutting wheel into contact with the can (instead of the simple rotation grabbing the can like yours). I wonder if that was a change made to make it seem more familiar to people used to the Danger Can Openers.
In other news, Toxic Midwestern-ness is a hilarious concept to me as a Nebraskan Millennial. The heat pump conversation is VERY familiar when discussing technology that "I don't need to bother with it, I tried it already and it was bad".
As always, thank you so much for your videos. Your writing style is goofy and entertaining, and I always look forward to new releases. Thank you for sharing your time and talent with us :)
I've been using a smooth edge can opener since the 90's. Still actually use the one my family got when I was a child. Fearing the day it wears out as the modern ones do not work as smoothly.
my mom and I fully moved over to one of these safety ones a few years ago. it's better than conventional openers. they are objectively better
Alec, I hope you and yours are OK...it's been a over a month since you dropped this.
Edit: NM, I looked at your Twitter feed and saw you're pretty current there, so I guess you're just busy working on projects. Carry on, sir, carry on...
I think it's kind of amazing that a can opener can cause you to reassess your cultural/personal preferences. I also think it's commendable that you did so. And I enjoyed the somewhat philosophical nature of this video.
The mere fact that he gave it any thought whatsoever elevates him into the 1% of human intelligence.
The can opener with the angled blade wheel can be used to remove the lid completely. Hold the Opener with the turning grip upside. Grab the left side of the lid and turn from the top. Make sure the teethed wheel grabs the inside of the can seal. Never had sharp edges i thought this was a myth.
@TheMistaKD I did as well. I used our "standard" can opener this way removing the whole top rather than cutting the lid.
Came here to say this!
I'm so glad I was one of the handful of folks that suggested this thing & super happy you found it as profound as I did. Initially it was just a neat and clean novelty to me but then I went through chemo & one of the side effects was some serious neuropathy that made grasping & twisting things feel like pins & needs in my digits. I was actually able to grasp this can opener much easier & able to twist the twisty bit with my palm making it a much simpler & less painful experience than a traditional can opener. Also you're captions are always a treat! I never watch without them.
So I am super late to returning to this channel for regular viewing (probably) but I absolutely love the point made in this video! Some things are the status quo because they are the best option, but sometimes we have an opportunity to *improve* the status quo and not just accept something suboptimal because it's everywhere. That's the kind of principle I'm really devoted to as a young (and probably naïve) adult
I bought one of these can openers after watching this. My mom told me about a can opener she had that also cut into the side of the can instead of the top. It took the whole top off the can, but it left a sharp edge on the can. It cut the entire seam off.
My father opens cans using the "traditional" double-cog opener, however does it backwards: the cut is along the outside (cutting through the label rather than the lid / holding the rotating handle facing up instead of sideways). This solves a couple of problems, the whole thing comes off so it's easy to get food out, and the lid can't fall in. However, it takes a bit more effort to cut, and still leaves sharp edges. It's a good compromise however!
@Shuken Flash They are.
My parents had a couple of can openers from the late '70s that were strong, solid, and reliable all through my childhood. They did, eventually, get a bit dodgy - dirty, dried-out grease on the axles, grunge on the insides of the blade and drive gear where you can't really clean them, etc.. So one day while they were out I took the can openers apart, cleaned them up thoroughly, reassembled them with new grease, and put them back in the drawer.
About a week later I went to open a can and couldn't find either one. They'd come home with a new can opener and thrown the old ones away.
Ever since they've needed a replacement can opener about every other year. This despite barely using them because they got an electric can opener a few months later - because the new manual one was already crap.
Came to the comments looking for this.
Cutting from the side, not the top, basically eliminates the lid falling in and the annoying lip problems outright. Then it's a tossup between the sharp needles that might or might not be there vs the sharp edge you know to avoid. I personally prefer the latter, but probably not strongly enough to go buy a new can opener if I already had the "improved" one. I guess the new design gets a bonus point for the removed lid being somewhat still usable as a lid, but I personally do not care about that. Most of the time there is nothing left over and if there is I can figure something out.
I like how thorough Alec is and hope he will see the above comment, try it out, have his mind blown and do a follow-up video on this. The 5 minute monologue in the end would have quite a different taste to it if he had been aware of this technique, I think.
@Jo Kr No
My current can opener is specifically designed to open them that way, you physically can't have the cutting wheel on the inside and make it work. Confused the hell out of me for a few seconds until I realised the cutter went on the outside.
While it does leave the top of the can sharp I guess no sharp outer edge on the lid so you can lift it without fear of adding extra red sauce to the contents ain't too bad.
@Shuken Flash I realise that because I’ve been using the “new” as a kid. I’ve been using the old openers wrong for a couple of decades. I’ve been using it precisely how the original guy described cutting along the seam. I’ve never even thought to cut directly into the top and it really does explain why my can openers have been falling apart and subject to natural selection lmao
You had me at baked beans. I saw this though after buying one of these can openers and having no idea how to use it. Thank you!
My mom bought one of these back in the 90s when we visited Hong Kong. For me as a kid, it blew my mind. I didn't know it was invented in the 1980s!
That can opener she bought was the only one of this kind we ever had, for many years. While at first I messed up some cans with it because I didn't know how to use it, I ended up figuring it out pretty quickly, and I used it regularly when living on my own in college. We don't have it anymore, because sometime in the last decade the cutting blade got dulled to the point where it just wouldn't really open cans effectively anymore. But we have yet to buy a replacement of this same type, which has always disappointed me.
I fully agree with you that this is a superior design. It eliminates sharp edges, and I also love being able to put the lid back on the can and stick it in the fridge. I would love to get one of these for my next can opener (lol these things take a while to get used thoroughly...and now I'm thinking about how I've been planning for years to replace my car with a hybrid or EV except for the fact that my current car still has usable life in it).
One thing I didn't see you address was some apparent "glue" between the lid and the can that sometimes shows up in the cans I open. I don't know whether it's actual glue or just food residue that's gotten stuck in the pressed portion and dried up, but for some reason there's sometimes a little bit of rubbery-looking stuff between the lid and the can when I open it with this style of opener. But it's always on the outside of the can so it's not really an issue for me.
I used the OXO Good Grips Smooth Edge opener. It works effortlessly in a similar way to yours.
I finally got to use one of these today, and it was magical, I really felt like I was living in the future.
9:00 When I got a "safety" can opener for the restaurant I work at, my main reason for doing so was that the cooks could get a spatula in the cans to get more product out of the cans without the burrs left by traditional can openers slicing up the spatulas. A can opened with a safety opener is far less likely to damage a rubber spatula and cause physical contamination concerns.
13:35 you could say the same about gelato spoons totally dominating the spoon game once you actually use one. Particularly for spreading, well, spreads. And eating dessert
After watching this purchased one and now two months later I'm loving it, thank you :)
In theory could you use a regular double-wheel can opener and hold it on top with the blade against the side of the can to get a similar effect?
We actually use one of these can openers in our house. We love it and have loved it for years now
I’ve often looked at the different staplers in my office and wondered which spring assembly is the most efficient. I always thought it was neat one spring operates the feed and tensions the loading gate. I wonder what innovations in staplers exist.
It seems like there ought to be a stapler that uses a roll of wire, that cuts the wire and forms it in a single action that also presses it through the paper and into the crimping die. The whole fragments-of-wire-glued-together thing seems la little like ink jet printers, where they could give away the stapler and just overcharge for staples. I don't remember how many times I've bought the wrong size of "standard" staples.
@Lizlodude auto-stapling printers only work if the users select the option to staple their prints XD
@Leander Rauff I like how you described construction stapling, books, scrolls, and cave paintings, skillfully avoiding the obvious scenario of binding multi-page short-lived office documents together.
Huh. I have a stapler with a weird metal bar that folds funny and pushes the staples to the front.
Also a very old one with what, to my 8-year-old self, looked like a tiny measuring tape, pushing the staples.
and then PDF was a thing :)
I've tried them a few times. I found that it either didn't actually pierce the seal, or there was still enough of a vacuum seal that it was very difficult to get the lid off.
I got one of these can openers... it truely is life-changing how much easier it is to
a) get your food out of the can
b) open the can
c) put the food in the fridge afterward
these are *HUGE* improvements but I still had to go to amazon to find one because I couldn't find one in a store *anywhere*
Some wheel type openers are designed to cut under the folded seam along the side. They are fast and don't leave a sharp edge or metal burrs. Clearly the superior choice.
So, where exactly DID you find this unique tool? And do you have any suggestions on how your viewers might be able to successfully procure one?
I’ve got one of those several years ago, and when I initially got it, I was utterly confused as to how to operate it. I ended up just throwing it in junk drawer where it sat for like 2 years. About a year ago, I could not find my Swiss Army knife for can opening, and had to figure out this can opener, poked around for couple of minutes, and exactly as described: felt like I was not making any progress at all. And then the lid came off in the cleanest way possible, that was mind blowing experience.
Yup, swiss army knife for me as well. The can openers that I bought never lasted very long, the plastic bearing wearing out very quickly. Maybe I should have gone for a more expensive model but the can opener on the knife is Good Enough (tm) and pretty much indestructible.
You were your own Bean Dad 😂
@ThinnedPaints A $3 can opener or a $40 knife?
@CosworthsMerryMen you don't? Get mr moneybags over here
@CosworthsMerryMen Could be camping habits. I mean it doesn't get much more straightforward than that. Plus you can stick the opener tip under the lid to pry it up so that it doesn't just fall into the can
I eat canned foods so rarely, that I'm perfectly happy with using my swiss army knife. But if I were to ever learn to enjoy canned foods, I'd definitely put in at the very least moderate effort to find one of those can openers that cut the seal.
Excellent video on a question i didn't know i had. Haha. Love the commodore 64 shirt. Was my first computer. Could run just about everything when i was 5. Not sure i would be able to remember how to use it 32 years later. 🤔 could be like a riding a bike situation.
i like the hair! grew mine out a few years ago and it was a lot of fun, gave me a lot of confidence. I'm going to buzz it all soon but I'm always happy when I see someone else growing out theirs!
I've bought a few of these. They work great but I have worn out or had the handle break on a couple. I always keep a new one as a spare now.
I discovered these “safety can openers” after my mom got a pretty gnarly cut on her finger from a jagged can edge, and gave these out for Christmas a few years ago. Now this is all we use. I didn’t realize that they’d been around for decades.
mentioned which didn't work well at all. For a long time I thought what I had seen was a hallucination until you mentioned it here! I'm going to get it now that I know it is real!
Got one of these when I was getting groceries earlier this evening. Works really nicely.
Thanks for the revelation! The safety can opener is something I've never seen. Shall be buying at least one soon. But a couple of refinements to it would help greatly:
1) Give it a longer turning lever to reduce the force required to use it.
2) Adjust the cutting head geometry so that it can be used left-handed as well as right-handed. 10% of people are left-handed, and quite a few others have a weak or missing right hand.
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That's it for the safety can opener. For those who choose to read this further, about can openers in general, the following are some related points raised by the video.
A useful tip: Attach a small Neodymium magnet to the tip of a conventional can opener, to allow the opener to lift off the cut lid from a steel can. No more fishing around in the top of the can when you don't stop cutting soon enough. It also lifts any small metal fragments which (rarely) drop into the contents. I've used magnets glued onto openers since about 1980. Why don't manufacturers add a small magnet, or magnetise the can opener itself? It's a simple and low-cost improvement.
You're using the wheeled can opener backwards. I've never seen them turned that way before. Might try it.
Another useful tip: The wheeled opener can also be used to cut around the side of most cans, removing the lid with no sharp edges, and allowing easy removal of all contents. The downside is that the top of the can now has a sharp edge.
I've almost given up trying to use ring-pull cans. Most of the rings break off, sometimes leaving me injured, and a partially opened can which then needs opening with a pair of pliers. (I once cut myself badly when a fish can ring pull failed. That required a visit to the hospital and 15 stitches, including repairing a severed artery.) Not ideal. So I almost always use a can opener instead of the ring pull. If the can has turned-in top and bottom edges along with a ring pull, I simply don't buy the product. That said, some cans do have well-designed ring pulls.
As for his hair, that's his choice, and I can live with that. If not, then I wouldn't be watching the video. Most of us have no right to tell anyone to change their preferences. Suffice it to say that, in certain walks of life, and in current times, hair like that can attract the wrong kind of person, if you're not looking for men.
I've always used the old school can opener. I've never had an electric one, though I've used them at friends houses. I've never sought out this style of can opener. When I come across one I struggle to use it lol. The one downside I've found with them is when I'm opening a food I need to drain. I use the lid to drain the food, and I can't do that with the way this safety can opener cuts the top.
I found a lever action version of this style that has been great for older family members who have trouble turning the knob on the older style.
I just need to say that I'm at awe at how good and tight your scripts are nowadays. Great choice of words and pace. One of my favourite TheXvid channels!
have you ever tried using the "normal" can opener with the turn wheel parallel to the top and the sharp bit piercing the side of the can?
you will get a very similar result with no lip and no lit falling on your (kid's) ravioli. =)
I have a opener similar to that but it also has small jaws that let you grab the lid. You never have to touch any metal. Been using it well over 10+ years.