How to Open a Can With No Can Opener

February 17, 2022 Post a Comment

You wouldn't look something as simple as opening a tin of nutrient to be controversial. Musician and podcaster John Roderick recently had to abscond the public spotlight after tweeting about sending his daughter on a six-hour quest to open up a can unaided. A Twitter thread went viral later on Jean-Michel Connard talked about the foibles of his prepper brother stuck in the dark of Winter Storm Uri, who had canned food but but had an electrical tin opener.

they tin get into the pull top cans just fine, but the ones that require an opener? their only can opener is electrical. so a good 3/4 of his canned nutrient store is inaccessible to him unless he goes later on information technology with a pocketknife, which i sincerely hope he does.

— Jean-Michel Connard (@torriangray) Feb 16, 2021

Hopefully you accept several tin openers stashed among your preps, as recommended in the guide to #10 long-term food cans. Yous can buy military-mode P-38 can openers for l cents a piece — in that location'southward just no excuse to exist without a can opener.

But what if y'all find yourself without one anyway? There are several methods listed online, some better than others. I decided to review these methods to come across which works all-time in a pinch.

Important bits:

Have at least one proper opener in your abode supplies. A real opener makes this much easier.
Yous can open a can with a spoon, merely it'due south a ho-hum procedure and y'all might break your spoon.
Another way to open a tin is to pierce the lid with the bottom corner of a chef'south pocketknife, merely information technology'due south bad-mannered and not as safe as information technology'due south touted to be.
The all-time and quickest alternative method is to cut the chapeau open up with a pocketknife. But you'll slow or damage or blade over time. (Do you know to continue a blade abrupt without proper tools?)
You can open up a can by rubbing the lid against a rough surface until yous wear away the seal. It works much faster than you might think merely could contaminate your food.
Be safety. I got an heart total of kokosnoot milk while prying a can open up for i of these tests. And sharp edges tend to skid when forced.

Narrowing downward the methods

At that place are several methods talked about online, some outright ridiculous, so I first decided to narrow down the possibilities.

The first criteria: no special equipment needed. Sure, you tin open cans with tin can snips or a bandsaw, but if you accept that stuff I'm going to take a wild guess that you're a fairly handy person already. You tin besides supposedly open cans with a file, but again, that's a somewhat specialized tool, not to mention boring.

The second rule is: nothing absurdly dangerous. Metal cans can exist dangerous even with proper tools and lighting, much less if you're trying to piece the can in half with a butcher knife or open the can with your bare hands. The final thing you want during a stressful fourth dimension is a laceration that requires stitches and a tetanus shot.

I settled on testing iv methods:

Opening a tin with a spoon
Cut the hat with a knife
Using the corner of a chef's knife
Rubbing the tin can against a rough surface

In that location is no spoon

The spoon method is somewhat unusual, but information technology seemed to exist the safest, since y'all're not handling anything precipitous. To apply a spoon to open a tin can, you firmly grasp the spoon part and rub the tip against the inner lip of the can lid until you rub through the metal. Then you work the spoon into the opening and move it effectually the lid until the hat is open.

I struggled with this for several minutes, just eventually rubbed a slit into the can lid. Some videos made it seem like you tin then just work the spoon around to divide the metallic, simply I didn't detect this to exist true with the Wolf Make chili I was opening.

Opening a can with a spoon

I eventually lost patience, got out my pocket knife, and cut the rest of the can open.

Cutting a can open with a knife

The spoon method might be a safe way to go the can started, but it takes a lot of time and will make your hand hurt.

Corner of a chef's knife

Videos make this seem similar such a safe and constructive method: you identify a big chef's knife on the top of the tin and push the bottom corner into the inner border of the lid, essentially using information technology equally an quondam-school can opener.

The first cutting went well, simply I had trouble positioning the knife for the second cut. What the videos don't mention is that you're wielding a large, hopefully sharp pocketknife around against a can that can easily slide effectually on your counter. Also, it would exist very easy for the knife to slip off the can, so if your hand is holding the can in place you could actually hurt yourself.

Over again, I lost patience and but finished the can with my pocket pocketknife. I wouldn't recommend this method.

Using a pocket knife

This is the archetype "hobo method," also well-known by pretty much everyone from a developing country. You want a small pocketknife for this, like a pocket pocketknife or a dent pocketknife.

You start the can past placing the tip of the pocketknife on the inner lip of the tin, and so you tap the pommel with your other hand to puncture the lid. You and then plunge the knife into the tin, working the bract forth the edge to slice it open.

I was a fleck scared of this method, but it works a lot amend than I thought it would. Yous have to be careful with the initial puncture, but it doesn't have much force to pierce the lid. The knife on my Leatherman Wave also easily cut through the thin metal. Since most of the blade is in the can, there isn't much danger of information technology slipping and cutting you. I usually try to move the bract away from my body when cut, but I found it a lot easier to pull the blade rather than push it, and again, I wasn't besides concerned about slipping.

I would be more than concerned almost the blade contaminating the food, so you lot'll desire to clean your knife before doing this. Also, this volition dull your pocketknife, so make sure you have the tools and know-how to sharpen it.

Rubbing on a rough surface

The idea backside this method is you lot run the lid of a can beyond a rough surface, like a concrete sidewalk until yous interruption the seal. I was hesitant to examination this because I figured I would terminate up spending hours futilely rubbing a can on my sidewalk.

Shockingly, that wasn't the example. It only took xl seconds of rubbing before I saw liquid from the tin of coconut milk. According to the internet, that's the point at which yous should cease, but looking at the rim of the tin can, simply a slight bit of the seal had been broken and I was agape I'd have to pull out the pocket knife. So I rubbed a bit more to open more of the can, which didn't take long.

Starting to get the can open by rubbing

I and so took the tin can within to see about prying open the compromised lid. There was one big problem: the tin'due south rim was coated in concrete grit. The lip was too rough to easily wipe information technology off, so I cheated a chip and rinsed information technology with tap water.

Rubbed can open but covered in crud

It took a piddling prying with a spoon and then a butter knife, but I managed to open up the can without pulling out my pocket pocketknife. Unfortunately, the kokosnoot milk had been contaminated by the grit. That might be adequate if I were hungry enough, but I decided to toss this can.

Concrete grit in the can