How to open a can without a can opener

I learned this trick in Cody Lundin's book "When All Hell Breaks Loose." It works great and I actually use this most days to open my lunch.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• open
• can
• survival
• preps
• camping

[we5leyz]

and then he takes out a knife... LOL

[kevin108]

@we5leyz Good point. Typically it's not needed but I keep my fingernails trimmed and I couldn't quite get the lid started.

[55chevy4x4]

If you're gonna carry a knife why not carry a Swiss Army knife? Open the can, a bottle of wine and pick your teeth when you're done.

[allenhane]

yes neat! i learned today!

[CantStayAwake]

neat, but the sounds of things scraping over concrete always gives me shivers.

[dmgm1970]

Well done. I've not seem that technique before. Only question in my mind is that you used your knife to pry the lid off. Could you have just kept rubbing until the lid collapsed as the liquid escaped? If I had a knife I'd think to use that to open the can in the first place.

[flamedrag18]

@flavius29663 yes I have and I regretted it afterwards, remember, this is for emergency situations where you likely don't have a sharpening stone. do you really want to hurt the edge of your knife, especially the tip, to open a can when you can use concrete or a rock instead and this is fairly quick with the right surface, it's even faster and safer than if you did it with a knife. when in a emergency situation, you should be conservative, not willing to dull your knife for a can of food.

[flavius29663]

@flamedrag18 You really are serious? Have you ever opened a can with a knife? The metal is so soft that you could cut it with the non-sharp edge :). You can open thousands of cans with one knife. Can't believe you are seriously considering to open a can on the concrete when you have a knife. Or is your knife made of bronze? that would explain it.

[ningabushman]

@McC1oudv2 Lol, good point.

[flamedrag18]

@flavius29663 cause you'll dull your knife blade and then what? it's better to do this than trying to dangerously puncture the top with a knife blade. you're first priority in a situation where you would need to do this is to conserve resources, dulling your blade unnecessarily is not the right thing to do.

[flamedrag18]

@we5leyz what if you don't want to ruin the edge while opening a can with it? it's a lot better to use the concrete block than dulling your can opener or knife blade. conserving resources should be your top priority.

[we5leyz]

@kevin108 It's just funny because it's like paying a cashier $50 in coins, having them spend all that time counting the change, then asking if they had change for a 50, LOL