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Welcome to #CheckIn for THURSDAY 2026-01-08


Muse here,

At Thanksgiving I really did my hands in with all the cans I had to open. My hands continued to hurt every time I opened cans of food for the cats. I needed to give them a rest. So, for Christmas I asked Andrew to buy me this handy-dandy can opener. So simple, what a game changer! My hands feel significantly better. I have a number of small gadgets I love to bits. JUST SO DARN HANDY! Do you have any favourite gadgets?

can opener

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Jay Bryant
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Jay Bryant
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I have a lid gripper that fits form half in inch (12.7mm) to 4 inches (10 cm). When a lid doesn't cooperate, that thing is great. Other than that, I can do a lot with my pocket knife and my multitool. I'm good at improvising with tools.
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Jodi
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Jodi
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Lots! My Kitchenaid, my pans of awesome (not sure that is a gadget), my bench scraper, and my spoonula (not sure if that's the official term, but sort of a scooped out, stiff spatula that is great for mixing and spreading dough and batter).

Oh, and if you need to open a tight jar, use the sort of bottle/can punch with a pointy end. Slide that under the lid and push up. It breaks the vacuum seal and the jar will open easily.

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Jay Bryant
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Jay Bryant
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@Jodi I find that the slip a thin blade under one side to pop the seal often makes it impossible to reseal a container, so I do that only for things I don't want to reseal. That's one reason I bought my opening contraption.
@Jodi
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Joyce Donahue
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Joyce Donahue
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Basically I couldn't live without this little gizmo.
Kuhn Rikon 5 in 1 jar opener

5-in-1 Jar/ Bottle Opener

5-in-1 Jar Opener - Kuhn Rikon known throughout the world, at home in Rikon. Swiss Made ✓ The Swiss no. 1 brand for cookware introduces itself. Order online!
Kuhn Rikon Corporation
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Jodi
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Jodi
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@Jay Bryant not all that thin, it's rather chunky. But never had a problem. Weird.
@Jay Bryant
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Jay Bryant
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Jay Bryant
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@Joyce Donahue That's the contraption I have. I got it after the last time we had a conversation about opening things. 🙂

I guess it goes to 3 inches (7.62 cm) rather than 4 inches (10 cm). @Cass It has a lid flipper (and a bottle cap opener), too.

@Cass @Joyce Donahue
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Carsten Raddatz
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Carsten Raddatz
•

The plain can opener I bought decades ago in England at pound stretcher still does the job. No complaints.

For fun I have a Koziol slicer tool to cleanly peel oranges. Less messy fingers when using this:

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Karl Auerbach
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Karl Auerbach
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@Cass - How does that sealer work? Does it use heat to fuse the bag plastic? (We tend to use wooden spring-loaded clothes pins to hold bags shut - very cheap, very easy.)
@Cass
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stefani banerian
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stefani banerian
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i have a hammer, and pliers, and a screwdriver.
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Muse
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Muse
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@stefani banerian I have those! And also a saw, sand paper, and a spirit level--all in my tool box. I am ridiculously fond of my spirit level.
@stefani banerian
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Cass
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Cass
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@Karl Auerbach it heats a wire when pressed together and you drag it slowly to melt the packaging together. I use it for resealing bags that I won't be re opening for awhile like chickpeas when I've put half the package in a container. I use clips for things like bags of chips is be dipping into more frequently.
@Karl Auerbach
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Jay Bryant
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Jay Bryant
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I have a full toolbox with all the things mentioned here and more (including a stud finder, umpteen bits for my universal driver, and so on). Mostly, though, I can do what I need to do with what I carry around in my pockets. When I need the actual right tool for the job, though, I'll clamber down the stairs and get it.
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Karl Auerbach
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Karl Auerbach
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enter image description here

One of my most useful tools is what are sometimes called "parallel jaw pliers".

These are highly leveraged pliers - almost vice grips - that have very broad surfaces on the grasping surfaces. And those surfaces stay parallel to one another as the pliers close and grip.

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Joseph Teller
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Joseph Teller
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I'm afraid I am old school for opening cans... I just use the spoon handle to pop up the ring for pulls,
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Christoph S
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Christoph S
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My favorite kitchen gadget is the egg yolk-white separator. Dead simple design, but very effective and prevents me from accidentally dropping eggyolk in the whites
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Rod Mesa
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Rod Mesa
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I’m afraid I am old school for opening cans


I use the handle of a spoon had gotten its bowl mangled. I coated the bowl in red Dip Coat so it doesn't mangle my hand in turn. Works well.
Dude: Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose, or Recycle. It's the way of the future as pitch headlong into the imminent apocalypse, economic or otherwise, because fascist Morons Are Mishandling America.

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