Rod Speed wrote:
robgraham wrote
wrote
Rod Speed wrote
The Natural Philosopher wrote
Adrian C wrote
robgraham wrote

I know it's not strictly DIY, but I'm tasked with getting them apart !

Two bowls on the same diameter and are well wedged together
slightly at an angle. I wonder if they been taken out of the
dishwasher hot by one of the members of the family and have
effectively 'shrunk' together, but they certainly won't come apart.

Any ideas - I've tried hot water and then the deep freeze
without success - maybe significant oven heat ?

Fill water in the gap, then place in the deep freeze?

AAA+. TNP's award for the most creative and practical idea to date.

Nope, the most practical is to try another cycle thru the dishwasher first.

It remains to be seen if the gap can actually be filled with water.

As an aside my wife bottles loads of fruit - and can never open the lids!

I have discovered that a blunt knife inserted op top of the rubber seal,
from the side, can be used to compress it enough to break the seal..

I have a different problem. I reuse commercial marmalade jars for my
own marmalade, basically because they stopped making the lemon and
lime marmalade that I prefer. I put the marmalade in the jars when its
very hot indeed, after its been boiling to make it set. The lids are metal,
but have a plastic liner where the inside the lid meets the rim of the
glass jar. Can be a real bugger to get those off.

The only thing that works very well is those strap wrench things
that are designed for getting lids off but even those can be a real
gut busting exercise.

The other lid 'wrenches' that are metal that go across the lid
diameter rather than around the circumference do work but ruin the
lid, it cant be reused.

Guess I could change over to the sort of jars you use, but I get the box
of limes from the packing shed thats the only one in the area that does
limes, for peanuts and need 100 600g jars. I do have 150 of those and
your type of jar is much too big for marmalade with the jars that you
can get at times in garage/yard sales, so I would have to buy some
of the smaller ones you dont see in garage/yard sales at all, so
that approach isnt very practical in my case.

I also use commercial marmalade jars, I find if I cut a piece of
Greaseproof paper to slightly larger than the lid then fix the lid on
top the vacuum cause by the hot marmalade cooling seals the jars
fine. I have kept my marmalade for well over a year this way, and it
is fine when I come to use it. Of course if you are feeling flush
you can buy jam jars and lids from Lakeland, not cheap though.

--
Residing on low ground in North Staffordshire

I've enjoyed the deviations form the true path of this topic
in to marmalade making, etc. We'll try the dishwasher
approach followed by the outside/inside cold idea. Angle
grinders, WD40 and duct tape are not kitchen items !! :)

They are here |-)

Back to the marmalade, we're fortunate enough to have gathered
over the years a number of the 7 lb porcelain jars (for those that
at are imperially challenged that's around 3kg) - I now normally
make the marmalade and I just seal the top with cling film while
still hot. The vacuum of the cooling pulls that down tight and a
cover with brown grease proof paper then protects that.

Yeah, I am aware of that approach, and using wax
too, but prefer the lids because its much easier.


If you can find real celophane (not the laminate that says it is
celophane) dip it in vinegar and while it is wet cover jar while jam is
still hot and put a rubber band around it,it then forms a part vacuum as
it cools and will seal for a year or two.