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bud16415

Fixer Upper
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In the last year I went thru 4 can openers and they were all junk made in China. Every time they lasted just long enough for my brain to forget when I bought it and after they stop working I go to Walmart like another sheep to slaughter and remember not to buy the one I just had but by the next piece of junk they sell. The final straw came Friday when I came home from work and opened the fridge and there was a can of tuna ¼ opened that looked like it was opened with a pair of vice grips a screwdriver and a sledge hammer and then the contents were fished out with an ice pick. I asked what happened and was told the can opener broke on the first can it tried to open. I took a look at it and it totally self-destructed broken plastic and bent and loose bits of metal.

My goal this weekend was to find a good American made can opener if it killed me even if I had to buy a 50 pound restaurant bench model. I went to a nearby town that had a cooking store and caters to homeowners but also their main business is restaurants and schools and such. Sure enough they had the big bench models, but they also had a big selection of hand operated openers. Many of these looked fairly good but still had a high plastic content and when I would flip the package over it said made in China or made in some similar place that was not USA. Then my eyes caught some packaging that was not at all slick it was actually kind of gaudy and looked like it was designed in 1950 and made from heavy cardboard not the blister formed plastic that keeps you from trying it until you get it home and hack it out of its shell. Red White and Blue package with U.S.A. marked on it in 5 different places and stamped into the tool another place. It had the guy’s name on it that made it with a phone number and a web page and email addy plus the location of his company in St. Louis Mo. It felt heavy and solid and good thick chrome over some heavy gauge steel. No plastic in the whole thing except the outer coating of the grips. If Channel Lock made a can opener this would be what it would look like I thought. For 14 bucks about double the Walmart junk price I went out the door with a smile on my face.

Got home and grabbed the mangled tuna can and she said don’t try it on that it’s mangled to bad. To both our surprise it opened the can and on the way around it straightened the can back up with very little effort cranking it.

It might sound crazy writing a review for a can opener on a home improvement page but I’m hoping this thing makes my life just that little bit easier and more fun and every time I open a can with this I’m going to yell out its tacky 1950’s name Ez-Duz-It and think there might be a little hope left for Made in America quality I remember. :usa:

Can Opener1.jpg

Can Opener2.jpg
 
Like what you did, I too try and find made in USA products. It is getting very hard to find good quality now days and I wish more people would buy American. I will gladly spend more for a product that will last me a life time. You can buy six 5 dollar can openers or one 14 dollar can opener. In the long run the more expensive is cheaper. Unless you are like most of America now and have to have that new model in two years. Good on you!
 
Thanks for that review and showing the web link on the back. Supporting USA made items needs to be done more.

After you use it awhile, please let us know if it's still working well for you.
 
Will do. It could fall apart in a week also but at least I have a phone number I can call if that happened. Just judging by the thickness of the materials I have a good feeling so far. The handle crank thing looks to be formed into a U shape from .09 thick steel. The ones I have been tossing out look to be about .02 at the most and then molded into some plastic for strength.

We often joke at work when we see strange designed parts and say they must have been designed by a computer. This handle looks like it was designed by a toolmaker. On their web page I see they talk about a hardened steel being used for the cutting wheels. I kind of doubt the China made ones are.

One of the first things I noticed is how sharp the hook is for taking off bottle tops. All the cheap ones I have, have a flat on the point. After I thought about it you would want that point sharp to grab the thin edge of a bottle cap.

The one review I found that didn’t like it said it would have got a perfect mark if it had the magnet to catch the lid. I didn’t see that as being a feature I needed.

I did save the card it came on as I thought it was pretty cool you could take it off without destroying the package.

Who knows maybe Walmart will read this and put some on the racks. Right. :(
 
I just found that one on Amazon for 10 bucks. I might just have to order one.
 
I just found that one on Amazon for 10 bucks. I might just have to order one.

Go for it. then we will have two product testers. Haha.

Ten bucks on line sounds about right. I saw them on there this morning as well. I do buy a lot of stuff on line also but when I can I go local. The guy in my little hardware store in our town has a lot of stuff and it’s always a little more than Lowes or HD but 10 miles closer. I try and do my part to keep him going. I would be sick if he closed up.
 
Go for it. then we will have two product testers. Haha.

Ten bucks on line sounds about right. I saw them on there this morning as well. I do buy a lot of stuff on line also but when I can I go local. The guy in my little hardware store in our town has a lot of stuff and it’s always a little more than Lowes or HD but 10 miles closer. I try and do my part to keep him going. I would be sick if he closed up.

Sadly we do not have many of those type of guys left in southern CA. We have big box stores and that's about it. Up by my mountain house there are still family owned shops that we prefer to use over the big guy.

Keep buying from small business or your state will end up being a California.
 
That's a beauty!

Maybe the thread should have been show us your can opener. :D

I should have started this thread a year ago seeing as how some of you guys were keeping yours a secret. ;)
 
Hey Guys...this site has been around for a while...I thought everyone knew about it...
http://www.madeinamericastore.com/
I shop Locally up here in New England..we have artisans all over the place. guess I just never thought about it outside of Here..
made in CT Made in VT, NH, Maine... we got it all.:D
 
Watch out for made in a America, after Nafta that might include Mexico and the junk from Canada;)
 
We were talking about this at work today and my grandson was talking about his American Eagle clothes he orders on line but he complained about the duty. I pointed out that there is no duty if it is made in the US so guess where that stuff is made.
 
You mean, you show me yours, I'll show you mine kinda thing? :eek:


I try and not judge a man by the can opener he carries but it’s dang hard not to when he shows up with a vintage beauty like you showed us oldog. Mine is still new and it’s hard to fight the urge to show it off, but I can’t wait for the day 20 or 30 years from now when I’m in a nursing home, to shock everyone when I whip mine out and say “Ez-Duz-It”. :hide:

Even as amazing as this can opener is, it still comes in second to the P-38 I have carried on my keychain now for about 45 years. It has got me out of plenty of a jam. It was opening oil cans when oil still came in a can, pried open 1000’s of paint cans, and tighten more screws than I could count. Not to mention a lot of cans of beans.
Nice write up on the P-38 and its big brother the P-51 :usa:
http://www.georgia-outfitters.com/page52.shtml
 
Here is my latest entry into what happened to common sense and American made quality. My Walmart belt was falling apart and to give them credit it lasted about 2 years and kept my pants up and I almost bought another but thought there must be a tougher belt sold. I went to a better clothing outlet and saw a Dickie brand belt and remembering they make pretty tough stuff I thought I would give them a try. I checked the leather and it looked tough as nails and the buckle was made nice and most important it fit around me. The clerk pointed out it was a good seller as it had a feature that let the buckle flip around and be black or brown. I thought now that’s cool two belts for the price of one.
It lasted exactly one day and I bent over and my pants fell down. I then saw how it was made, attached pic. This tiny pin with some spiral groves is what lets the buckle flip around. It is pressed or molded into a soft plastic insert inside the metal piece. No kind of a head or rivet just stuck in the plastic.

How can someone make a product and not at least yank on the buckle of the prototype unit to see if it will take a few pounds of pull? A ten year old could have designed a better deal than that. Total junk.

She wanted to take it back but I needed a belt so I filled the whole gap with super glue and stuck it together and now I have a black belt that’s brown on the inside. :usa:

photo.JPG
 
I have a Justin brand belt, made in America and is at least three years old and still kicking.
 
The problem is that Walmart keeps beating up its manufacturers to get better pricing, so they can sell it cheaper. Companies that sell to Walmart cheapen their manufacturing to be able to lower costs for Walmart. So...you get what Walmart pays for.
 
The problem is that Walmart keeps beating up its manufacturers to get better pricing, so they can sell it cheaper. Companies that sell to Walmart cheapen their manufacturing to be able to lower costs for Walmart. So...you get what Walmart pays for.

That could well be true for many items at Walmart but my Walmart belt lasted two years before it got to ratty looking to wear. This time I selected a high quality retailer and a well-known brand that has a reputation for workman quality and I get a belt that lasts about 6 hours of wearing time. My opinion is it is all junk might have to look into the Justin brand belts. Or go find an Amish guy and have him make me one. :mad:
 
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