Can opener experts?

[Big Rack]

I'm pretty good with a swiss army opener after years of opening fruit or soup cans for lunch but I have an older knife which I believe or would like to think was maybe carried by a cowboy. It has a long spear blade great for slicing, peeling jobs, it has a corkscrew which the more I think of it would be awful handy when everthing was corked it would seem a corkscrew or breaking the neck off are the only two options.
It also has a can opener which I'm too dumb to operate it has a blade shaped more like a scythe or scimitar blade. How do you use these? I read somewhere that todays cans are built differently but I don't know. The knife is marked but it's so shallow and worn I can't make out more than a circle it also has plain close grained scales I would guess to be hard maple.
Kind of enjoy playing with it as I dream about being at the base of a mountain slicing my bacon and my last potato having just pulled the cork on my pint to add a little to my coffee, looking forward to them peaches when grrrr! I'm back here saying how in the heck does this thing work?

[Artful]

A picture would be worth a thousand words here...
is it possible a part is broken off?
http://www.vicfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/victorinox-elsener-soldiers-knife-01.jpg
http://becauseblogdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/italian-sailor-knife-simav-napoli1.jpg?w=625
http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/military_photos/edged-weapons/60689d1256766389t-the-humble-british-jack-knife-jack-knife-opened..jpg
http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o742/Flipsar/Oldcanopener_zps71c4b741.jpg

http://books.google.com/books?id=E6NZd17WtWoC&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=history+of+multi+blade+pocket+knife&source=bl&ots=pG8eyirn8k&sig=fiKMl81PjOcCZNRF1sV2X-0Ubvc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6pDEUsftOsXsoATuoIK4Dg&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=history%20of%20multi%20blade%20pocket%20knife&f=false

[RED333]

1 Get a brick o block.
2 Lay the can on the block, lid down.
3 Rub can on block till the block gets wet.
4 Remove lid, if lid still attached, see 3.

[WILCO]

This is how I roll with cans:

[cbrick]

Yep Wilco, I have an uncle that used to give me those great can openers. :mrgreen:

Rick

[Superfly]

p 38. 38 slices to open a can

[Artful]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Q6Jv4de4g

http://www.georgia-outfitters.com/page52.shtml



Master Sgt. Steve Wilson

38 ways to use the P-38 private

1. can opener
2. seam ripper
3. screwdriver
4. clean fingernails
5. cut fishing line
6. open paint cans
7. window scraper
8. scrape around floor corners
9. digging
10. clean out groove on Tupperware lids
11. reach in and clean out small cracks
12. scrape around edge of boots
13. bottle opener
14. {in the field} gut fish
15. {in the field} scale fish
16. test for "doneness" when baking on a camp fire
17. prying items
18. strip wire
19. scrape pane in the field
20. lift key on flip top cans
21. chisel
22. barter
23. marking tool
24. deflating tires
25. clean sole of boot/shoe
26. pick teeth
27. measurement
28. striking flint
29. stirring coffee
30. puncturing plastic coating
31. knocking on doors
32. Morse Code
33. box cutter
34. opening letters
35. write emergency messages
36. scratch an itch
37. save as a souvenir
38. rip off rank for on the spot promotion

[MtGun44]

Dang! I posted on here about how to use it, and it disappeared.

Punch the sharp part into the can, straight down, next to the rim. Pry
UP, cutting the lid a bit, using the little side tab as a fulcrum on the rim.
Move in a bit, cut another bit; repeat as necessary.

Really old ones cut up, newer ones cut down.

Bill

[Mk42gunner]

I learned on a boy scout knife, the same motion operates a P-38; basically you cut and rotate the knife/ opener towards your body. The cutting edge of the opener is on the inside of the curved part.

I also have a Swiss army knife, the can opener works very well; but it operates backwards from a boy scout knife. The cutting edge on it is on the outside, forward edge of the blade. Like I said, it works well, but it did take some thinking the first time or two I opened a can with it.

Robert

[RP]

I bet your wife can tell you guys how to open a can they do it all the time its the Jars that give them a hard time.

[MtGun44]

But the point is that the old fashioned ones do not operate like the P38 or the Boy
Scout Knife.

Bill

[quilbilly]

A p-38. I have carried one of these on my key ring for over 40 years. Use it regularly in the field.

[contender1]

I can't help with the OP any more than has already been offered.
But, I still have a P-38 in my wallet I got back in 1976. I keep mine in my wallet now, as I USED to keep it on my keychain. After it poked a few holes in my britches etc, I decided it needed a better place to ride.
I also have spares of original P-38's here from the 1970s too. Just in case,,,!

[Big Rack]

The openers in the second post are the kind I have I'll have to try it per the other posts. The couple of times I've tried the P-38 I about took off fingers I assumed that the ones I tried were genuine chinese I hope the GI brand is better. Now if it ever warms up maybe I can get those peaches open!
I guess the P38 were for C rations which I remember my father buying for my brother and I at the surplus store I actually kind of liked the can of bread.
Thanks guys.

[Dale in Louisiana]

The openers in the second post are the kind I have I'll have to try it per the other posts. The couple of times I've tried the P-38 I about took off fingers I assumed that the ones I tried were genuine chinese I hope the GI brand is better. Now if it ever warms up maybe I can get those peaches open!
I guess the P38 were for C rations which I remember my father buying for my brother and I at the surplus store I actually kind of liked the can of bread.
Thanks guys.

C-Ration Bread was the only English a lot of Koreans could read, and they would NOT trade anything for it when I was there.

I have carried a P-38 ever since I got my first one in 1968. It's an indispensable tool. You could use it to adjusted teh firing linkage on an M-41 90mm tank gun, time an M-2 .50 cal, and a lot of other uses.

dale in Louisiana

[montana_charlie]

when everthing was corked it would seem a corkscrew or breaking the neck off are the only two options.
There is a third option.
With a rod (or a stick) and a hammer (or a rock) you can drive the cork into the bottle.
That allows the contents to pour out without interference, as the cork will 'float toward the bottom'.

CM

[savagetactical]

This is how I roll with cans:

It is my weapon of choice also.

[bob208]

why worry most cans are pull top now even soup. in fact the cats have even added the sound of a pull top can to their come and get it sound.

[462]

I saved and brought back a '68/'69 vintage P-38. For many years it got almost daily use, and remains very usable. For the reason mentioned, I did take it off the key chain.

[Blacksmith]

Dang! I posted on here about how to use it, and it disappeared.

Punch the sharp part into the can, straight down, next to the rim. Pry
UP, cutting the lid a bit, using the little side tab as a fulcrum on the rim.
Move in a bit, cut another bit; repeat as necessary.

Really old ones cut up, newer ones cut down.

Bill

What Bill says the old ones cut on the up stroke and left a sharp edge sticking up.
Here are pictures see Method 3 of 3:
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Can-Opener

The old cans were made without a rim like some condensed milk cans are still made. Modern openers and P-38's hook on the rim for leverage the old cans without a rim had to be cut on the up stroke.

[destrux]

Seems to me that those older slot type can openers work best when you open the sides of the can. Poke it into the side near the top and work it around the can and it takes the lid off like a hat.

[tommag]

Not sure about your opener, but a p-38 rides in the pocket nicely when wrapped with a little duct tape. The tape makes a great fire starter, burns very well.

[tengaugetx]

Been carrying this one on my key ring for about 35 years without incident. http://i1342.photobucket.com/albums/o764/tengaugetx/P38_zps59672a16.jpg (http://s1342.photobucket.com/user/tengaugetx/media/P38_zps59672a16.jpg.html)

[Lever-man]

Sounds to me like it is a gutting blade. I have a Swiss army knife with a blade like you described with a blunt point that is for gutting. Works like a charm, will cut the stomach area open without puncturing the intestines.

[Cactus Farmer]

I've carried a P-38 or a P-51 (larger model) on a grenade ring since 1968. I feel lost without it. More tool in that little piece of metal than most folks would guess. I'd guess the numbers are only limited by the mind of the owner. I was McIvering stuff WAY before that *** show was an idea. Fix it with what ya have.

[Big Rack]

Nope it's a can opener like pictured in post two. I enjoyed the Wiki about how to open a can, but I don't know if I'd want to try whatever's in the last can.
It's kind of funny the conversation an old knife can generate. I just like to fondle it and put myself into a Luois L'amour state of mind. Though maybe once I uncork the bottle it would be better to put a little in my peaches instead of coffee, what the heck that's how Tom Selleck does it!
Good idea about knocking the cork all the way through and it makes a good reason to just go ahead and finish the bottle instead of just sampling it.