Author Topic: opening cans with knife & other stuff (Read 2129 times)

Rex in OTZ · « **on:** May 25, 2011, 04:55:10 PM »

Other day at work we ran outta coffee, back in the back the cubbard was a new can of coffee (not shure how long it was there) anyway peel off the lid andits not one the ez-peel types its old school
looked round for the can opener and none to be found....modern day and age food comes in cans with pull tops right?

any way before a coworker could unlimber his belt tool I'd already started the job of opening useing a penknife blade and working it round just like the old guard guys used to do with there ration cans.
Then later on decided if ther was any video footage of this way being used and this is some of what I found. Hope you like it as usefull information or as entertainment.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/open-a-can-without-a-can-opener.html

http://www.youtube.com/embed/RcR-NK2NMTw

http://www.youtube.com/embed/xUsmiSC60Gs

http://www.youtube.com/embed/RcR-NK2NMTw

blind ear · « **Reply #1 on:** May 25, 2011, 05:11:18 PM »

That was interesting. ear

Gun Runner · « **Reply #2 on:** May 25, 2011, 11:13:47 PM »

I have a STEEL P38 on both of my key rings. People just stare when they see me use one to open a can.

Gun Runner

rzwieg · « **Reply #3 on:** May 26, 2011, 01:02:37 AM »

Urr...well...why not carry a p38 like GR posted or better still, a p51? Or a Swiss with a can opener?

There is a way to open a can against a cement wall but I've forgotten...have dial up= bad youtube. Sorry!

mannyrock · « **Reply #4 on:** May 26, 2011, 01:11:04 PM »

Good way to absolutely ruin a decent knife.

Rex in OTZ · « **Reply #5 on:** May 26, 2011, 03:30:41 PM »

Im deeply sorry if I had offended sombodys feelings, I mistakenly thought this was the Survival Skills Discussion Forum not the Collectable Knife forum. the reasoning was to assure your survival you'd do whatever to open a can of life sustaining food?
If I was stranded and only had a one time special issue Howdey Doody collectable knife and a pallet of canned goodies, Ole Howdey Doody is takeing one for the team.

billythekid55 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 26, 2011, 03:42:17 PM »

Quote from: Rex in OTZ on May 25, 2011, 04:55:10 PM

Hope you like it as usefull information or as entertainment.

I found it both useful and entertaining!

Thanks for the post.

billythekid55

Gun Runner · « **Reply #7 on:** May 26, 2011, 03:45:24 PM »

Rex, Howdey or any other knife, if it was all I had to open a can would get used.

Gun Runner

Rex in OTZ · « **Reply #8 on:** May 26, 2011, 04:08:29 PM »

Howdey may get a repreve if thers cement about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rE_Dh297IM

Curtis · « **Reply #9 on:** May 26, 2011, 04:44:09 PM »

Quote from: Rex in OTZ on May 26, 2011, 04:08:29 PM

Howdey may get a repreve if thers cement about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rE_Dh297IM

I think in a survival situation the key is to not burn more calories opening the can than the can contains!

Curtis

powderman · « **Reply #10 on:** May 26, 2011, 06:12:31 PM »

REX. I've opened many a can with a pocket knife, they sharpen back up just fine. Thanks for posting about it, might be some city boys just learned something. POWDERMAN.

Rex in OTZ · « **Reply #11 on:** May 27, 2011, 09:39:21 AM »

first saw pocket knife used while takeing lunch breal at haymeddow, in scant shade offerd by a JD 300 stacker, seems the person that'd packed lunch had forgot to pack a canopener and the lunch box was all canned food.......I'd drove 48 miles to be there to help my two uncles, so running back to ther house(8miles) or going to 2 miles to neighbors for a canopener seem'd foolish waste of time had alphalpha to get up before it was forcasted to rain the next day.

3leggedturtle · « **Reply #12 on:** May 27, 2011, 01:41:39 PM »

So you dull a knife blade, pull out your whetstone and resharpen it. Sure beats a screwdriver and palm of hand to punch 50 holes,jus to get the food out.

hillbill · « **Reply #13 on:** May 27, 2011, 02:19:03 PM »

for years i ate canned stuff heated up on a bulldozer exhuast manifold, for lunch. opened with a pocket knife.i always used the dull small blade on my queen steel barlow.i kept that blade dull for scrapeing battery terminals and gasket surfaces etc.i must of opened 1000's of cans with it and it still is fine today.

mechanic · « **Reply #14 on:** May 27, 2011, 04:06:41 PM »

I have collecting knives and using knives. My using knives are tools. I use them for whatever I need them for, sharpen them until they're no longer useful, then buy another. If I need to open a can or cut a wire...so be it.

Good post.

Ben

blind ear · « **Reply #15 on:** May 27, 2011, 04:55:00 PM »

I collect useing knives only. The only box Queens that I have bought, I had them engraved and gave them away, I also gave the recipients some good working knives at the same time. I told them to use the engraved knives and use them up but I doubt that those guy's will. ear

Dee · « **Reply #16 on:** May 27, 2011, 05:18:11 PM »

The last time I went squirrel huntin with my Grand Father, dinner was a gallon can of peaches. And yes, he opened them with a pocket knife, the way he'd done for 50 years. I doubt he ever considered toten around a "can opener". He wore striped overalls, with a matchin stripped engineers cap. He always had a pair of pliers in the leg pocket, and sharp pocket knife, along with an old zippo.
That squirrel hunt, with the peaches, was the last hunt before he died of an aneurysm in his abdomen. Man when I get to see him again it's gonna be great. Him and Dad together now. Damn I miss them two.
Rex, your my kinda guy. Do what ya gotta do, to eat.

Hooker · « **Reply #17 on:** May 27, 2011, 06:12:52 PM »

If it's a good knife opening a can won't hurt it.
If a knife is not a tool it's jewelry. Bobbles and trinkets have no place in a survival situation.

Pat

rzwieg · « **Reply #18 on:** May 27, 2011, 10:50:43 PM »

Now, now guys...the reason you've been hearing about pocket can openers is because some of us have had to open cans with pocket knives...in my callow youth, cheap ones.

That's why I carry a Swiss knife with a can opener.

Lost Farmboy · « **Reply #19 on:** May 28, 2011, 04:01:31 AM »

I like my fingers just the way they are and where they are. That's why I avoid using a knife to open a can. I do not eat canned food. I do not store canned food. But I have a small can opener in all of my bug out bags.

powderman · « **Reply #20 on:** May 28, 2011, 12:43:39 PM »

Quote from: Hooker on May 27, 2011, 06:12:52 PM

If it's a good knife opening a can won't hurt it.
If a knife is not a tool it's jewelry. Bobbles and trinkets have no place in a survival situation.

Pat

PAT. HEH, pretty well the way I feel too. Knives and guns are made to use, not just look purty. POWDERMAN.

hillbill · « **Reply #21 on:** May 28, 2011, 01:57:28 PM »

heck i can open a can of beans in maybe 15 seconds, without endangering any of my digits!why anyone needs a can opener is beyond me.i shore dont like to do it with a blade a plan to skin with tho lessn i got a whetstone hhandy.

Lost Farmboy · « **Reply #22 on:** June 01, 2011, 10:26:15 PM »

In a survival situation without antibiotics a small cut could be fatal, I'll keep the can opener in the BOB. I'll use the knife to open things like rabbits, squirrels, fish and deer.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #23 on:** June 02, 2011, 08:23:27 AM »

I am part of the Gun Runner club, and have had P38 can openers on key rings for the last fifty years. I was first introduced to the P38 in 1961/62 as a smoke chaser. In those days we would hike into lightning fires with a Type A or B Lightning Pack contain four boxes of rations, one meal each. These were in the days long before the MRE came out. Part of my personnel gear was a pocket knife and later a pocket knife was on the daily readiness inspection form.

I have opened a few cans with a knife, including coffee cans which are rather tough. I think the post links are fitting and educational. Back in the 60’s and 70’s I have seen a lot of can food sent out to the line without a can opener. I have also been witness to the inexperience cutting themselves while opening a can with a knife, which is why a P38 is a welcome key chain accessory for the experienced outdoorsman. A first aid kit is a welcome accessory when some are using a knife to open a can.

I have opened a few cans with a Buck knife and a M7 bayonet. A few have lived a life in the woods/brush that what you carry on your back is what you have for an extended period of time. I would much rather open a can with a P38. I have also used a P38 as an emergency screw driver.

It is amazing how many people forget the can opener when they go camping.

For the last 20 years I have carried a Leatherman Wave on my belt. What takes me back to the old basic Boy Scout knife of my youth. It was and is a practical tool along with a pocket first aid kit.

REX I think you post is of value because somebody will see it and use the lesson learn to open a can of coffee or beans.

Victor3 · « **Reply #24 on:** June 02, 2011, 08:01:48 PM »

Phooey on yer knives & p38's.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #25 on:** June 02, 2011, 09:35:59 PM »

Great can opener but the rocks have to be hard on the teeth.

blind ear · « **Reply #26 on:** June 02, 2011, 09:41:43 PM »

If our survival depends on getting a can open we probably won't worry about the knife or what ever we use to open the can. We will be gratefull we have the can to open. ear

Lost Farmboy · « **Reply #27 on:** June 03, 2011, 02:17:47 PM »

Victor3 did you make that cannon? It's pretty cool!

Victor3 · « **Reply #28 on:** June 04, 2011, 06:05:20 PM »

Yes, that's my 1st built-from-scratch cannon. I made it ~15 years ago. Shoots a 1" lead ball.

Everybody should have one.