teaspoon > Atwood Superbug prybar > rubber strap wrench
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That’s the one I bought from Amazon. $7 and works better than anything I’ve tried. AmTK tried all the others mentioned here and this one won.
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And here’s the data!
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I’ve always had good luck by simply inverting the jar, and holding it at a 45º angle, banging the lid gently on the counter top a few times around the circumference of the lid. Introduces just enough small deformations in the metal to break the vacuum seal.
There’s still one type of jar, however, that humans have not figured out a correct or easy way to open.
Always made me wonder if Doña Maria actually wants us to eat this crap, or maybe she wants us to bleed to death trying to prepare it.
I can only imagine shards of glass and pickles everywhere.
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Or you could campaign for better designed of lid like the ones we have here in Norway for jam.
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I bet you already owned a church key with a bottle opener on it that does exactly the same thing exactly as well.
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The problem with using basic science is that it means I don’t get to fill my kitchen with superfluous doodads destined for landfill though.
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Along the same lines, all I do is hit the edge of the lid with the back of a spoon. That breaks the vacuum after just a few taps.
Like many mass-manufactured things on Amazon, you can get a significant discount if you don’t mind looking around on Aliexpress and waiting for slow shipping: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/JarKey-Jar-Opener-The-Original-JarPop-Assorted-Colors/32596596612.html
Now that jar calls for either one of these, but I will use either one on any stubborn lid.
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Oh you kids, with your newfangled gadgets.
Hot water (run lid under), table knife (tap tap tap), wet rag (for grip).
Of course it helps to also have had depression era parents for practicality and frugality.
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I’ve opened jars with the method you describe, but I prefer using a JarKey or equivalent. Grabbing the tool from the drawer, popping the lid, opening the lid, replacing the tool is about 7 seconds. It takes the water in my kitchen sink >25 seconds to get hot enough to be useful, then more time to get the lid warm. So, a lot of water down the drain and a wet jar to boot.
Very disappointed nobody has been pedantic enough to note the air is pushing the lid against the seal, not the vacuum pulling it against the seal.
I take one of the wide blue rubber bands they put around produce like fresh broccolini or asparagus and carefully put it around the lid. I grip the edge of the lid tightly, lean on the jar to hold it down on the counter and apply rotation to both the jar and lid. I’ve never been unable to pop the seal on the first try as long as the rubber band has good contact with the metal lid.
And it’s free.
Well, close to this.
I bang on the lid a couple of times with the thick end of a table knife.
Breaks the seal (or dried whatever making it stick), and opens right up.
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It actually works OK. A strap wrench is better, though.
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Leather belts make for pretty good improvised strap wrenches, which is how I handle most of my stuck jars.
I tend to go with a strap wrench unless it is really bad. For the really stubborn I use a strong knife and stab through the middle of the lid to break the vacuum. My wife and kids disapprove and it leaves a hole in the lid.
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