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Original poster

How old are you and have you always had these things in your house growing up?

169 replies

PaperDoIIs · 10/12/2023 16:15

Things like can opener, knife sharpener, potato peeler.

I'm late 30's but grew up in a different country and we didn't have these in my house until I was late teens. My grandparents in the countryside never had them. I learned at a very early age to just use a knife for all these things and I can do it well , so bar the potato peeler (and even that one took me a while) I just stick to what I know.

OH is early 50's and English so he always buys /uses these things . It's a thing in our house because he moans I make the knives blunt, but then sometimes sheepishly asks me to open a can for him if there's no pull ring and the can opener broke again. Grin

We were talking today and he said he always had these things growing up , so it made me wonder.

Riveting conversation... I know.

OP posts:
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12
DumboHimalayan · 10/12/2023 17:53

RinklyRomaine · 10/12/2023 17:20

Posted too soon. Like this. Lethal star shaped lids in the bin.

Show quote history

That's a church key — it's for opening cans of beer/pop before ringpulls were invented. (We used ours for opening evaporated milk tins.) I assumed when you said pointy can openers, you meant one of these old stabby-style ones 😅 which feel a bit lethal but at least don't produce throwing stars…

How old are you and have you always had these things in your house growing up?
ExpensiveDecorations · 10/12/2023 17:54

Mid 50s, always had potato peelers, can openers and a steel for sharpening knives. Also we had a Swedish cheese slicer since we went on holiday there when I was a teen and I have always had one in my own home too.

LlynTegid · 10/12/2023 17:56

Didn't have or use a potato peeler until I left home, mum just doesn't like them or use them. Had the others you mention.

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bitofashit · 10/12/2023 18:05

Growing up in the 70's...no knife sharpener or peeler. We had a primitive can opener that could have your finger off if you weren't careful.

There was a tiny brown handled knife that was used for pretty much everything else and it was blunt as hell. The potato ended up half the size after my dm had peeled it.

ditalini · 10/12/2023 18:05

This is reminding me of an old flatmate back in the 90s who scoffed at peelers and insisted on using a knife.

But...he was so shit at it. Always ended up with either patchy or tiny potatoes if we cooked together.

I'm good at peeling with a knife because we did have peelers in the 70s but they were fixed blade and I am left handed. It took me years to realise why they wouldnt work for me. Now that I have a decent one I much prefer it.

Tin openers were also available (butterfly style one, same issue as above), and sharpening steel.

Restrelief · 10/12/2023 18:06

Always had all three 48. Never seen someone open a can with a knife. Google brings up a video first with normal knife and then a cleaver - so glad for can opener and ring pulls!

theduchessofspork · 10/12/2023 18:09

Yes all of those

grew up in the 80s

in fact we had a can opener on the wall, which was a thing 🤨

Cheeseplantalltheway · 10/12/2023 18:09

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel yes exactly that! Reminds me of my grandad too!

Delpf · 10/12/2023 18:10

In scouts they taught us to open cans with a spoon. Seems safer than doing it with a knife?

namechanged221 · 10/12/2023 18:11

No we did not have them.

My mum was wartime generation and thought things like 'peelers' were frivolous!!

Why not use a knife, so I'm good with knives.

But my only question is if you're using knives for everything, surely you need the knife sharpening??

Or do you use a stone for that?

GMsAWinner · 10/12/2023 18:15

I'm 57. Never lived anywhere with a knife sharpener. We were given a veggie peeler (good quality one) when we got married 28 years ago and as far as I can remember always had a can opener.

Riapia · 10/12/2023 18:42

We had all of those, also a tea strainer.
I still have the tea strainer, but never use it.

nokidshere · 10/12/2023 18:43

It's a thing in our house because he moans I make the knives blunt, but then sometimes sheepishly asks me to open a can for him if there's no pull ring and the can opener broke again.

Why is your can opener breaking at all? Never mind more than once. I've had my can opener for 30yrs and it still works perfectly there's really not much on them to break?

We didn't have any of those things when I was growing up but I have always had all of them in my own home - so for almost 40yrs.

Original poster
PaperDoIIs · 10/12/2023 18:55

nokidshere · 10/12/2023 18:43

It's a thing in our house because he moans I make the knives blunt, but then sometimes sheepishly asks me to open a can for him if there's no pull ring and the can opener broke again.

Why is your can opener breaking at all? Never mind more than once. I've had my can opener for 30yrs and it still works perfectly there's really not much on them to break?

We didn't have any of those things when I was growing up but I have always had all of them in my own home - so for almost 40yrs.

I don't know. Like I said I avoid using them , but we had various ones.. plastic,metal , cheap , more expensive etc. They just seem to give up after a while. No, I don't deliberately sabotage them to show off my skills. Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
PaperDoIIs · 10/12/2023 19:01

namechanged221 · 10/12/2023 18:11

No we did not have them.

My mum was wartime generation and thought things like 'peelers' were frivolous!!

Why not use a knife, so I'm good with knives.

But my only question is if you're using knives for everything, surely you need the knife sharpening??

Or do you use a stone for that?

When I was older my parents got a new set of knives and it came with the long, thin sharpening bit. They used that .

My grandmother always used a knife to sharpen another knife and that's what I learned.

Had to do it tonight when OH moaned none of his work and never did and they're all rubbish. I'm getting him a new knife sharpener for Christmas. Grin

OP posts:
avocadotofu · 10/12/2023 19:04

I'm 39 and I had all those things growing up, I never used the knife sharper as a kid though.

Fizbosshoes · 10/12/2023 19:05

I'm 46 we always had those things at home.
PIL have some medieval looking "spike" to open tins and I can barely watch them use it, I'm anticipating a blood bath every time!
SIL bought then a can opener but they wouldn't use it!

LBFseBrom · 10/12/2023 19:13

Yes, had all those things but my mother preferred to use a sharp knife rather than a potato peeler and so do I.

isthismylifenow · 10/12/2023 19:20

Never had a knife sharpener or a potato peeler. We did have one of the lethal tin openers with the corkscrew on it.

We also didn't have a TV. They only came out where I live around the late 70s. Our neighbour got one, so I would go there to watch a couple of shows each week. There was only one station and it was bilingual on every other day. So Monday and Wednesday for eg it was English and Tuesday and Thursdays were the other language. The shows were dubbed into the other language, so you could tune into a certain radio station where they aired the original English commentary. The Sweeny was one of these, and Shane (the western)

We got a TV around mid 80s, I was a teenager by then. We also got a VHS recorder at the same time, and I just could not wrap my head around the fact when I got home from watching Sha-Na-na at the neighbours house, when I got home it was still on! My dad had recorded it, but that was like rocket science to me.

We also never had a hoover. I remember the day we got a carpet sweeper, those types that don't plug in, and we thought we were the bees knees.

isthismylifenow · 10/12/2023 19:24

One thing we did have though, was an electric carving knife. Only my dad was allowed to use it and we were banned from touching it. It went back into it's box after my dad had hacked away at the roast, and packed away on top of the top cupboard.

I have never until now, questioned why we had an electric knife, but not a hoover.

ShanghaiDiva · 10/12/2023 19:25

We used a steel to sharpen knives and had one of the stabby style tin openers as posted up thread.

guineverehadgreeneyes · 10/12/2023 19:31

I am early 70s. We had all those things in our house when I was a child. I also have can openers, a potato peeler and a knife sharpener. I don't use the potato peeler to peel potatoes, I'd rather use a knife but I do use the peeler for coring apples.

JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn · 10/12/2023 19:33

I'm 56. We had a can opener. No potato peeler or knife sharpener.

irregularegular · 10/12/2023 19:35

I am 53 and English and we always had can opener and peeler. Suspect we may not have always a knife sharpener but I'm not sure. My husband who is a bit older and Dutch mostly prefers to peel with a knife, so I wonder if he didn't have peelers at home (but did have decent knives!)

eurochick · 10/12/2023 19:47

I'm late 40's and always had those things in my house.

How are you breaking so many tin openers? I think the one we have now is the one I bought when I was kitting out my first flat 20 years ago.

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