Swing-A-Way, Just Fix One Little Flaw and You May Never Sell Another Can Opener Again!
Written: Apr 14 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Heavy duty, easy to use, doesn't take up much space.
Cons: After 15-years the moving parts are rusting!
The Bottom Line: If you don't have room for an electric can opener, or even if you do. Swing-A-Way makes one of the best hand-held can openers available.
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| cmuir's Full Review: Swing-Away White Can Opener |
Before Hubby and I bought our house almost 12-years ago we lived in a mobile home. Needless to say I had a very small kitchen with very little counter space, so an electric can opener was not an option. Even with a larger kitchen and more counter space I have still stuck with my Swing-A-Way Can Opener.
This is no wimpy hand-held can opener that will have you cursing trying to open a tin can, skipping places along the lid so that you may have to break out a screwdriver or pliers to complete your task. Trust me the cheap-o that I had in my camper for a few weeks had me so angry half the time it ended up on one of our loads of junk headed for the crusher!
Swing-A-Way has been making can openers for over 50 years and actually the design hasn't changed much in all that time. If something isn't broke, don't fix it. I have had mine for probably over 15-years now and it will still open a can just like it did when brand new. Although I may have to retire it this year, but I will explain that in a minute.
My Swing-A-Way Can Opener is slightly over 7-inches long and 2 1/2-inches wide when the handles are closed. Even in the smallest of kitchens you should have room to store one of these. The handles are coated with white rubber (although mine are a little off white now) so that this can opener is easy to hold, even with wet hands. Plus the bit of cushion that the rubber coating gives you assures that no metal is digging into your hands no matter how much pressure you need to apply.
The top part of the opener, which holds the gears and cutting blade, is made of a nice heavy 1/8th-inch chromed steel. There is also a bottle opener hook located on the side in case your church key seems to be missing.
All you need to do to operate a Swing-A-Way is to open the handles to accommodate your can, be sure that the blade is facing the top of the can. Next apply pressure to close the handles and pierce the top of the can with the blade. Now on the right hand side (I guess this may not work for lefties) you will find a heavy chrome handle. Just turn this handle with a forward motion, which is pointed out on top of the opener, next to this handle. The bottom gear will rotate itself around the outer lip of the can allowing the blade to make a nice clean cut the entire way around. Now it is possible to run into a slight glitch when getting back to where you started, but that will at least keep your lid from dropping inside of the can, no big deal. Do be careful though since the edge of the lid will be sharp!!
Now onto the reason why I am going to have to retire my Swing-A-Way Can Opener, while most of the top is a very nice chrome, the gears, the cutting blade and the rivet (that actually pivots the handles) are rusting. Now maybe it is because I just toss mine in the dishwasher after each use, or maybe because it is almost an antique, I am not sure. It certainly is not affecting the way this can opener performs, but it is making me a bit uncomfortable knowing that my food is coming in contact with a bit of rust. Working with Hubby I come in contact with rust all the time, but I really don't want to intentionally ingest any.
When I do finally retire my Swing-A-Way Can Opener another will be purchased for my kitchen, and the old one will probably end up in the garage, I am sure Hubby can come up with some use for it. I can't just let it go to the crusher!!
I did have to do some searching to find out where these can be purchased now and the cost. They can be purchased at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Ace Hardware and numerous other stores that sell cooking supplies. You may want to shop around also because I am seeing them anywhere from $5.99 to $7.99!
Swing-A-Way you receive Four Stars for making such a great can opener. You would receive Five if you could keep the moving parts from rusting. But then of course you would probably never sell another can opener!!
Recommended:
Yes
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