Age Test: What Is This?

[Toddy]

I like the skins on, but my Mother didn't and my Husband doesn't, so I learned to peel spuds and since I was big enough to reach the sink standing on a chair as a child, it was my chore to do.

I hate bad tools, I really do.

M

 

[Robson Valley]

Oil can spout. Messy.

Church keys are known also as "egg wrenches." (wrench = spanner)

Veg peeler? See if you can find one with a ceramic blade. Deadly sharp.
The draw back is that the ceramic material is brittle so be prepared for chipping.
I buy a new one every few years.

 

[TarHeelBrit]

I met someone the other day who didn't know what a church key was for ( the oil can spike brought that to mind)

Saddens me.

You mean one of these?


I feel your pain, I was using a manual can opener when our neighbour popped round and she was mystified by this strange contraption. She said "You don't plug it it?"

 

[Toddy]

I can't be bothered with those electric ones…they cut the rim too deeply and the liquid spills.
I just use a butterfly one……79p worth of plain practicality

M

 

[santaman2000]

You mean one of these?
View attachment 35575

Yeah that's similar to the can/bottle openers I used as a kid and young adult (pre twist off, peel away age) I think the word "church key" refers to one that actually looks like a key though. Such as these:

 

[santaman2000]

I can't be bothered with those electric ones…they cut the rim too deeply and the liquid spills.
I just use a butterfly one……79p worth of plain practicality

M

And they still work when the power's out (when you REALLY need canned foods)

 

[santaman2000]

I like the skins on, but my Mother didn't and my Husband doesn't, so I learned to peel spuds and since I was big enough to reach the sink standing on a chair as a child, it was my chore to do.

I hate bad tools, I really do.

M

I like 'em skin on too. When I was a kid nobody had "peelers" though. Everybody just peeled their veg with a small knife back then. Well, at least in the rural south.

 

[Jared]

You can tell that spout is old, because it hasn't got umpteen safety features that all have to be aligned just right for it to work


As for spud peeling...

[video=youtube;EZ7Fjsr6Ebk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ7Fjsr6Ebk[/video]

 

[Squidders]

It doesn't look like an oil can spout to me, it looks like a pouring lid that folds to form the handle on a petrol can.

 

[British Red]

You mean one of these?
View attachment 35575

I feel your pain, I was using a manual can opener when our neighbour popped round and she was mystified by this strange contraption. She said "You don't plug it it?"

That's the exact thing - for spiking holes in cans before ring pulls.

 

[TarHeelBrit]

That's the exact thing - for spiking holes in cans before ring pulls.

Fond memories. My local corner shop had one of those hanging from a piece of string by the cabinet they kept the cokes in so you could drink it on the way home from school. 5p for a can of coke, now I'm showing my age.

"You don't plug it it?"

It it? damn stupid fingers should be "it in"

 

[Disco1]

We are in the process of changing all the electrical things with manual items. Got some great older products meat mincer can also make sausages with it, clamp to the table rotary grater like you say old style tin opener and the biggest change putting a wood fired range in to the inglenook fire place, heat and cooking.

 

[bridget]

[video=youtube;Q1NXawrErCo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1NXawrErCo[/video]

Trust the Italains to make this Sexy! lol

 

[Tengu]

I spent too much time in my childhood peeling taters (and ironing sheets and, I hate to frighten you, polishing copper water pipes) to want to do it now.

People were mental back then.

 

[Toddy]

Yup.

Whitening the grout on the fireplace tiles, every single day. Scrubbing the doorsteps every morning. Polishing the door handle, the letter box and the key plate too…..and the bars that lifted the windows, and the tools beside the fire.
In museums where they have rooms set out as though the houses were in different eras I'm appalled at how dirty and dusty they look. People did not live like that. They knew that soot and the factory chimnies dirtied and tarnished everything, and they scrubbed and polished and took a pride in things being 'right'.
Heck of a lot of labour day in day out though.

M

 

[Silkhi]

Potato peeler? I am far more modern than that - For Mash get Smash!!!

 

[Toddy]

Great for making tattie scones at camp

M

 

[British Red]

Yup.
…..and the bars that lifted the windows, and the tools beside the fire.

.

M

Used both today

 

[Laurentius]

I spent too much time in my childhood peeling taters (and ironing sheets and, I hate to frighten you, polishing copper water pipes) to want to do it now.

People were mental back then.

I dunno 'bout ironing sheets or polishing copper pipes, but I had an epiphany at some point that peeling spuds was a waste of time, just scrub 'em that is all and it is not going to kill you.

 

[Toddy]

Used both today

But did you polish the brasswork ?

Houses smell different nowadays. Used to smell of beeswax and turpentine, of bleach (steps and sinks) and coal burning.
In Winter most homes had paraffin somewhere in use (wee flying saucer type stoves in the bathroom under the cistern to keep the pipes from freezing.

I still make and use the polish though and I do scrub the steps, just not every day.

M