How To: Remove A Very Tight Lid

 How to... Remove A Very Tight Lid?  Use Items You Have Around The House! 

Step 1

Want to remove a very tight lid? Do you have a weak grip or arthritic pain in your hands? Have you already tried tapping the lid with a spoon? Thumping the bottom of the jar with the palm of your hand, and it still won't come off? An easy, quick way to remove a very tight lid is to put on rubber gloves! Yes. Ordinary household rubber gloves. Hold the jar in one hand, then use the other hand to twist the lid off. This usually works. If not, run hot water on the lid if it is metal, then proceed as above. 

Step 2

If that does not work, try putting oil on and very close to the threads of the jar. Wearing the rubber gloves you will actually want to TIGHTEN the lid a fraction of an inch. Then UNTIGHTEN. RETIGHTEN and UNTIGHTEN. This action is working the oil down into the threads to loosen the grip. You'd be surprised when attempting to remove a jammed lid, it can usually be tightened a tad even when it will not untighten at all.  As long as the lid moves a fraction of an inch the oil is a good option. If the jar does not contain food or have contents that require special care WD-40 works well for this.

Step 3

As a final effort, hit the jar on the bottom with your gloved hand to loosen any vacuum that may exist in the jar. Then proceed through each of the steps again. These methods work well when lids are rusted in place, screwed on misaligned or whenever it is almost impossible to remove a lid. NOTE: At any and every point in the above procedure you can always employ step 3, to boost your chances of success.

Small Caps

In instances with a smaller cap, such as a soda bottle or any lid less than 2 inches, use pliers! Grip the bottle with your gloved hand and use the pliers to create the torque. That's it.

(Photos courtesy of Dreamstime)