Getting a safety lid undone!

I know in the great scheme of things at the moment this is a very small issue, but I do struggle to get safety lids undone - you know, the type that you have to push down and turn simultaneously. I just do not have enough wrist and finger strength to do it.
Anyone any tips as to how to do it, apart from sheer brute strength (which means I have to give it to OH, but he wasn’t here earlier and anyway it annoys me that I can’t do it without help). :frowning_face:

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know just how you feel. with some of them, I don’t completely close them after use… just so that I can use 'em if/when OH isn’t around to help…

A similar topic included some ideas to deal with this…

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I’ve only got one “good” hand and that’s not really good… but it works well enough, except for the childproof/safety sorts of things… aaaargh

It also annoys me and I am still capable of press and twist. I cut the outer plastic of the top with a sharp knife, its just turning the stopper then

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If it’s a jar of something Sue, whack it in the middle with the handle of a knife, it releases the pressure and makes opening easy, might have to hit it a couple of times. If it’s those stupid pill type things, I’ve no idea, I get child proof but bloody impossible for us with joint problems🤨

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I used to buy 20-litre plastic barrels of heating oil with plastic lids which needed to be pressed down and then twisted to open. I’m a man still with strong hands and fingers but nearly always couldn’t twist the lid off. I cut into them with secateurs, until I bought this adjustable tool from a supermarket, and it always worked.

Maybe if you pressed down with a thumb, or an elbow, and twisted with one of these?

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I have a small square of silicone material for gripping things and also as an oven glove. Available in kitchen sections of supermarkets or online.

I like Bonzocat’s plumbers tool above. Kuhn Rikon do a jar opener that gets good reviews on Lakeland and I suspect Zyliss does something

Thanks for the various replies - it’s not the twisting that’s the problem. It’s having to press down AT THE SAME TIME that just infuriates me. I have no arthritis or rheumatism - I can’t imagine how people who do have cope.

I put the thing to be opened on the table, press down with my palm flat on the lid and then put fingers round it and twist it. If it has a nasty sharp-edged lid I might use a dishcloth for comfort.

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Slight variation on @vero’s suggestion;
Place bottle on floor or low table, push down on the top with the heel of the palm of your hand, then use the other hand to turn the bottle.
If it’s something small and difficult to get hold of like a pill bottle, then jam the top between the hinge side of a door and the door frame, hold the door in place with your foot, and then you have two hands to push and turn with at the same time.

Give it to any kid under 6 years old and they’ll open it in seconds

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Graham referred to my post about this on another thread but it’s probably worth repeating here. I can’t press and twist on those sorts of things at all but the one I use is like the following…

https://www.amazon.fr/Couvercle-Comptoir-Louvre-Bocal-Préhension-Restaurant/dp/B0B77C9MCZ/ref=sr_1_52?crid=J6UO0SKQRZC6&keywords=ouvre+bocal&qid=1664347432&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI1LjkwIiwicXNhIjoiNS42MSIsInFzcCI6IjUuMzEifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=ouvre%2Caps%2C1038&sr=8-52

Because it’s screwed to the underside of a cupboard, I can put it in place (grips very firmly) push upwards and rotate the jar/bottle. No need for nifty wrist movements.

However, my version of this one is even better because the opening curves round, which helps the grip, but this sort of thing should work for you @SuePJ :crossed_fingers:

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Like the sound of that, except that I was trying to open something that had noxious liquid in it! :roll_eyes:

Again, fine for jar tops, but not for plastic bottles with plastic caps and a nasty liquid inside, sadly.

With metal jar tops I’ve discovered that if I use a bottle opener and ease that under the lid it releases the vacuum and I can then open it.

@AngelaR - I can see your handle thing working for screw tops of glass jars, but plastic capped bottles of things like bleach?

I’ll try mine and tell you - certainly works for water bottles - back in a min

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YESSS!!! I found a plastic bottle of caustic soda with one of those ghastly caps and it worked. I had to push up fairly firmly and then rotate the bottle a bit and it worked a treat…

One caveat though - it wouldn’t work for tiny caps because the funnel arrangement doesn’t go to a point so wouldn’t grip. Fine for all the plastic bottles I have though.

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Great, thanks so much for checking - good to know.

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