Are you ever nervous when...

[Muse]

There I stand, a rubber glove on one hand (more for the grip than any protection it might afford me) and a big piece of flat rubber in my other hand torquing the lid on a jar of whatever (possibly a jar of jam I made N years ago). It always occurs to me how easily glass breaks (just drop that jar and you'll see), and how badly glass can cut you. However, I've never heard of anyone having a bottle shatter and injur someone in such circumstances. Still, I get rather nervous imagining cutting my hand to the bone.

I have a jar opener, but don't like using it because 1/2 the time it kind of wrecks the lid -- it's kind of cheap and crappy, but it's the only one I have. I have a couple of tricks I use to that always seem to help a lot:

1. Boil some water and slowly pour on the jar's top.
2. Then, softly rap on the edge of the top all the way around with a hard object, like the handle of a butter knife.

When doing the above, and the jar still won't open with a fair amount of torque, I resort to my jar opener device. If worst comes to worst, I cut the lid off.

Do you get nervous when you do this? Have you ever heard of someone being injured because a jar shattered when the top was being twisted in an effort to open the jar?

 

[Howard]

Um, no.

 

[oznerol]

Every time I see a jar I pee myself.

 

[OCGuy]

No, because I am not a little girl, so I can open jars.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: ducci
Every time I see a jar I pee myself.

:laugh:

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: OCguy
No, because I am not a little girl, so I can open jars.

Oooo, a real man!

 

[Tiamat]

No, I have never heard of someone being injured by a jar shattering in their hands while they were trying to open it.

Frankly, I just wrap a rubber band around the cap and that provides enough grip to get the jar open...

 

[oiprocs]

If I can't open it, which happens a lot, I just pawn it off to a sibling. They play with it for a bit, then give it back to me. By then it's nice and loose and my penis goes in smoothly.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Regular canning jars are tough as hell. Unless you have concrete or tile in your kitchen, dropping a jar is not going to break it. I often use the back of a knife to open mine. It dings the lid a little but, I still use it.

 

[natto fire]

Glass is brittle which is what causes the breakage upon impacts, but, it is also extremely strong, which is why you haven't heard of people breaking jars while simply trying to twist the lid off. If you use impact on the lid to try to unstick it, then certainly be careful, but it is extremely hard, if not impossible, to break a jar while simply turning the lid.

 

[gorcorps]

What kind of jar opening device wrecks a lid? My jar opening device is a sheet of rubber that just gives some extra grip. Same idea as the rubber band ^^^

 

[Leros]

I like the jar openers that look like bottle openers. You lift up on the edge of the lid, hear a 'pop' sound, and then its easy to open. I haven't had to use a jar opener in at least 5 years though.

I've never broken a jar in my hands, but I have picked up a nice glass and had it shatter in my hands.

 

[Jeff7]

When you drop glass, it goes from whatever speed it's reached to 0 in a very short amount of time. Since glass is also very resistant to deformation, as compared to something like steel, it undergoes this change in velocity that much more quickly. And all of the potential energy it had when it was at its initial height is now trying to keep the glass moving, but the only point preventing it from doing so is the point of impact. You can actually build up some pretty impressive forces and stresses in such a situation, especially with the small cross-sectional area of a glass jar.

If you're gripping the bottle or jar though, you're applying a reasonably uniform pressure to it. The cylindrical shape will resist this force fairly well - and because you're not subjecting it to impact, it's less likely to break.

I'd expect the company to do testing too to ensure that a person won't shatter the jar when attempting to open it. Injured customers aren't likely to want to buy your product again.

1. Boil some water and slowly pour on the jar's top.

Do of course be careful with boiling water around glass that's not treated to be subjected to thermal shock. That could break it more easily than the pressure from your hand.

 

[Chronoshock]

Once I opened a jar and it exploded glass everywhere.
No one survived.

Not even me.

(Seriously though, unless you're opening a jar built out of candy glass, it's not going to break).

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
Regular canning jars are tough as hell. Unless you have concrete or tile in your kitchen, dropping a jar is not going to break it. I often use the back of a knife to open mine. It dings the lid a little but, I still use it.

i have dropped a few jars and they break just fine on laminate counter tops. usually pretty bland tho, either the bottom will pop off or the side will crack up. ive broken one jar of preserves that my ex wifes great gramma had made. it was a really old jar, the cap was frozen on like it was loktite, and i was a bit too into it. luckily it just broke at the lip and crumbled, so i didnt get hurt. i still do not phear opening jars.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I never even gave that any consideration.

Though I think it would take a lot of force to break glass without actual impact, just applying direct pressure such as when you try to open it wont break it that easily.

 

[hanoverphist]

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
I never even gave that any consideration.

Though I think it would take a lot of force to break glass without actual impact, just applying direct pressure such as when you try to open it wont break it that easily.

thats also why i dont recommend using a butter knife to pry it loose a bit. im pretty sure doing that made a small crack in the jar that broke on me. either that or it had a crack/ flaw in it already.

 

[seemingly random]

Nope, never sceered. If it breaks, then it gets cleaned up.

I'm the person everyone asks to open their jars. It's just the luck of the draw from the gene pool. I sometimes have problems with very small bottle caps - pliers work fine then.

 

[imported_Imp]

I had to ask mommy to help open a jar today cause the pot was on the oven, and starting to burn. The lid was put under hot water 3 times, and the piece of shit would just not open.

 

[Eli]

You're a strange one, eh?

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Eli
You're a strange one, eh?

Because I'm afriad of being maimed in my kitchen by a catastrophic accident? :roll: Well, seeing as this is the only maybe phobia I have, I don't think I'm in trouble. Actually, I don't mind being strange as long as I have my shit together. My girlfriend said I'm pretty normal...

 

[lxskllr]

Jars are extremely strong due to their shape. It would be all but impossible to break one by using a strong grip on the outside. I'm uneasy washing some glasses I have. I have a couple that have very thin walls, and they're deep. My hands are on the large side, so I'm afraid of breaking the glass, as pressure from the inside out is going against the glass' weak side.

 

[JulesMaximus]

No, a glass jar is very strong unless you hit it with a hard object. Trust me Nancy, you aren't going to break a glass jar by twisting the lid off it.

 

[Slimline]

On mason style jars the simplest way to open them is to run the "sharp" edge of a butter knife around the inside of the rim that threads on. That lifts the rim up off the sealing cap and you can then spin off the threaded rim easy. Then use the edge of the same butter knife to pop the sealed cap off.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Slimline
On mason style jars the simplest way to open them is to run the "sharp" edge of a butter knife around the inside of the rim that threads on. That lifts the rim up off the sealing cap and you can then spin off the threaded rim easy. Then use the edge of the same butter knife to pop the sealed cap off.

I never have trouble with mason style jars, never. It's those reused relish jars, etc. that give me problems. Others, too, but the two piece lids are never a problem.

I guess my nervousness is mostly from the idea that the glass could have an imperfection. It would only take one to cause a catastrophic accident. There's a lot of force there. I'm pretty strong. When twisting, I wonder, "should I back off now and try plan B? Or should I actually use all my might?"

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
No, a glass jar is very strong unless you hit it with a hard object. Trust me Nancy, you aren't going to break a glass jar by twisting the lid off it.

I am not sure I trust you, Amos.