This past weekend while crafting with my Mom I found an occasion to test a pin. Mom had recently broke an earing and was heartbroken, so I found some beads that would work as a replacement, brought them by her place and we went to work. The only problem is that pesky plastic container that the beads were in. You know the kind, they are built to withstand a nuclear war, just like our past beloved Twinkies. Forget childproof, these things are human, robot, bomb, alien, AND baby proof. I think the only creature I have seen successfully get through one of those is a dog, never underestimate an adventurous canine.
But I digress. Well, Mom is trying to open this thing and is getting no where after about five minutes. I know your thinking, "Why didn't you just cut it with scissors?!", but if you have ever been in the position you are thinking to yourself, "I open the spaghetti sauce jar all the time, and finger nail polish ain't got nothin' on me, this should be a snap!". So I suppose it ends up being a pride thing in the end. After those five minutes the light bulb came on for me and I remembered a pin I had seen that had described how to open the plastic container with a can opener! Genius! So I sent her off for a can opener and I went to work, here are our results:
The Original
Buzzfeed listed this as one of the 35 Life Changing Ways To Use Everyday Objects, and if it had worked for us I would have to agree with them! But it didn't....
The Pinstrosity
The culprits. So here is the can opener in question and the military grade sealed package. On a side note they really should use this method to seal Top Secret Documents...no one would EVER know any secrets, did I mention EVER?
If you look on Buzzfeed it has no directions, just a picture and a quip that says "This tip would have saved me 22.8 hours of my life". Truth.
So I just took the can opener to the package and started cranking the handle and nothing happened except some crimping.
What I hadn't realized is that my Mom has one of those fancy can openers that opens the can on the bottom side of the lip of the can, so you don't cut yourself! This is wonderful if you have kids, or just like a lip still on your cans for whatever reason, but NOT GOOD for opening plastic packages.
Here is what the package looked like after my attempt:
Crimped, but not cut.
The fix:
An old fashioned can opener.
I scrummaged my house for an unopened package and this is the only thing I found, so it will have to do:
The key here is to use the old kind of can opener with the two regular blades instead of the crimping blades, like I show here:
Regular blades.
This allows for the can opener to cut, which is what we need.
Here is the package I tried it on.
The cut starts at the red band and white lettering, it cut about a two inch piece no problem and I was easily able to pop it open after that. (There is some crimping up top but that is where I accidentally got it stuck int he gears.)
In the end, the new can opener doesn't work, the old one does, and well so do scissors. I didn't feel like this saved me any time or effort in the long run, the can opener opened the package the same way scissors would. So now you know!
Any Pinstrosipeeps have any tricks or tips for this?!
Happy Monday!!!
Yeah I think I'll just stick with scissors, quick & effective.
ReplyDeleteI tried this when I first saw the pin and had no success at all. I have the old kind of can-opener, but all that happened was the crimping :(
ReplyDeleteMe too :(
DeleteThe trick to open these is to use a flat-head screwdriver. Angle it through the hole so that it's between the two bits of plastic and lever it up and down like a jack.
ReplyDeleteOoo those pesky packages they really irk me! I have never seen a can-opener open one ever! maybe I need an old one!!
ReplyDeleteI have electric scissors I use on these horrid packages.
ReplyDeleteI went through the exact same Pintrosity this weekend, too! Except I don't have an old can opener, so I was completely unsuccessful. :( HaHa
ReplyDeleteKitchen shears made to cut bones out of chickens. I never have to bone a chicken, but those things will cut open even an ink cartridge package! :)
ReplyDeleteI'd just bought a thermometer in that kind of packaging and used my can opener and it worked great!
ReplyDeleteI successfully used a in opener to open a plastic package, like in the pin.
ReplyDeleteI had something for my kids that I was trying to open about a week ago or so. I couldn't get it open and couldn't find my scissors. I remembered seeing this pin so I grabbed the can opener from the drawer. I put it along the raised edge and it worked. I was able to make a small cut about an inch or so wide which I then used to pull the package open. It was a PIN WIN for me :)
ReplyDeleteI'm loving this blog! I tried this one once myself and thought maybe it was just my crappy can opener but apparently not! I just started a similar blog. You'll have to let me guest post some time!
ReplyDeletewww.thepinterestingtruth.blogspot.com
I have this thing http://www.amazon.com/Open-Smart-Plastic-Package-Opener/dp/B0012NLLMA That I'm not actually sure how I got, but it works really nicely. I only use it on the plastic kind, though, and I'd live without it if I hadn't probably been given it or bought it for peanuts XD
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering if this method leaves edges that are less likely to cut? I've cut myself on packaging more times than I can remember.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am left handed and scissors are difficult for me to use (It's a right handed world). Maybe this is a better alternative to that predicament. And maybe it is less stressful for the hands?
Cool idea.