The Can Crusher - For the Hercules Wannabe
Written: Jul 21 '05 (Updated Jul 21 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Decimates cans greatly reducing their volume.
Not expensive. More fun than a carnival. (maybe)
Cons: Need quick reflexes to dodge occasional can missles.
Not for crushing ice.
The Bottom Line: If you recycle and have a place for it, get the Crusher.
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| nagels's Full Review: The Crusher Heavy Gauge Steel Can Crusher |
Her thirst for Coke is legendary. Seldom is a can or bottle of Coke more than a few feet from her hands. Some think that her gargantuan consumption of the carbonated beverage single handedly keeps the Coca Cola company afloat in its never ending battle with Pepsi for cola supremacy. At one time we had thought of connecting her to an IV feeding Mrs. Spudman the sweet liquid intravenously, but it would limit her mobility, especially walking to and from the refrigerator or climbing the stairs, can in hand.
At the Spudman household a yellow recycling bin resides on the deck just outside the slider off the kitchen. By recycling day it is overflowing, and Spudman spills cans along the way as he dutifully carries the bin out to the curb. During the hot days of summer Spudman’s thirst also increases exponentially greatly increasing the volume of cans and bottles in the recycling bin. To solve this problem they had considered a adding a second recycling bin, but that would mean an additional walk to the curb, no small potatoes on expansive Spud Acres. Thus the seed was planted in Spudman’s potato brain; a can crusher became a must have.
Crushing cans with his foot was fun but required too much bending and soon tired the not so in shape Spudman. A search on the internet found some reasonably priced crushers, but the cost of postage for the sometimes heavy toys was prohibitive for this perpetual tightwad. Then serendipitously he saw it lying alone on a bottom shelf at Ace Hardware, The Can Crusher. He had to have it and bought it for about ten dollars.
There are several types of can crushers available for the can-crushing enthusiast. One type rests on the floor free standing or fastened to a support. Another type is mounted to a wall or stud waist high. This is the type I chose.
The Crusher measures approximately 3.5” in width and 16.5” length, weighing in at a reasonable 4 pounds. The steel compaction arm measures about 16” in length. The unit is made of heavy gauge steel with a baked enamel finish. It’s mounted to a surface with three screws on the top of the unit and one on the bottom. I can’t remember now if screws were included with the unit. The screws in my unit are mismatched so either screws weren’t included or the ones that were seemed too wimpy for this application. Because of its weight and the force exerted on it, I personally wouldn’t mount it to drywall unless I was sure I’d be striking a stud.
The Crusher is intuitively easy to use. Just raise the cover and compaction arm simultaneously and insert a soda can into the cavity.
With the can firmly in place, pull down briskly on the hinged cover/lever and voila, in a second what was once an empty can is now compressed to a one inch thick piece of scrap aluminum. One the compaction arm/cover is a convenient, comfortable handle to make grasping a cinch.
My Experience with The Crusher
I have enjoyed using this device for about six months now. It’s mounted on my deck at the top of the basement stairs. It’s mounted there so that the crusher is waist height for the best leverage and strength. This probably isn’t necessary because the lever does most of the work. Someone who passed high school physics could probably explain the rudimentary science behind it.
The Crusher is fun to use and does its job admirably. After a few minutes of crushing time, an overflowing bin of empty cans has a noticeably reduced volume and is much more manageable. Occasionally cans squirt out of the device and fly down the basement stairs. This doesn’t happen often and can be prevented by being more careful or first putting a slight dent in the can. I’ve also found that inserting the can upside down works well. Just out of silliness I’ve tried unsuccessfully to crush plastic bottles. Most of them don’t fit in the cavity anyway. Those are best crushed the old-fashioned way, by foot.
At the very top of the can crusher are a couple paint chips that I touched up with sort of matching paint after noticing a little rust. Also some rust has developed at the hinges. A periodic application of WD-40 seems to have alleviated that condition.
All in all the Can Crusher is a fun to use, helpful device, a worthwhile and inexpensive purchase for one who accumulates too many soda or beer cans.
Recommended:
Yes
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