Quote:
Originally Posted by loulac
I’ve been using a very personal way of re-using canning lids which is strictly forbidden by their manufacturers. I punch a tiny hole in the lid with a small nail, I let hot water fall on the jar to loosen the lid (dilatation) then I can easily remove it. I will then solder the hole with a drop of tin and re-use the lid (3 or 4 times by now). Of course I don’t advise anybody to do it but if someone has a soldering iron at home and feels adventurous…
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Loulac-I'm surprised that the gaskets hold out for that much recycling. They always looked pretty indented to me. I've generally been able to get a lid off without bending it up by gently and slowly prying up with an opener. Experiment a few times to see if you can do it also. It would save you some soldering.
I assume you are using pure tin as a solder? What are you using for a flux, rosin?
Clkeiper - There are many, many different solders in this world and only some of them contain lead. Pure tin is used around food a great deal.
The only problem I personally see with reusing canning lids is the increased occurrence of jars not sealing. It's a trade off of losing some of your prep time and some product to the cost and aggravation of getting new lids. If I had to reuse lids I'd get the rings off as soon as they where cool so you could tell if they unseal themselves or not.
If several don't seal I guess you are going to get real sick of eating whatever you just canned.
There is nothing magical about a canning lid. You don't have to use the right incantations, using the right words after purifying yourself correctly. They are gasketed surfaces like any other. Like another gasketed seal they are more prone to failure with reused gaskets. Whether you reuse a gasket in any other situation depends on how hard it is to replace in the first place. If I have a small engine with eight head bolts and a spark plug, the store is a hour away, and I need to get the engine running to finish what ever I'm doing before it rains, the old gasket is going right back on. On the other hand If I'm pulling the head on an old V8 Detroit Diesel where I've got hours and hours of work pulling turbos, blowers and piping to get at a very heavy head, I'll drive half way across the state to get a new gasket.