Never thought about weight of can openers till I joined here. My regular opener weighs almost 10 oz. I found one for 3 oz but it broke quick. What do you use that is lite and holds up?

Freeze-dried food pouches, zip-loc bags, and Lipton/Knorr side dishes.

If you take canned foods only buy ones with "pop tops". No opener needed. Many items come with this, including canned meats.

Tuna, salmon, chicken in foil pouches. They also make pop top cans in various sizes. Spam singles come in a pouch. Shrimp and shellfish come in pop tops or pouches. I usually take dehydrated or take a pouch.

I've been known to have to resort to a small pocket knife when the can opener was forgotten. Kinda dangerous, but its gotta be done. If I am packing canned stuff, not much point in worrying about the weight of an opener as canned goods are only brought along for a weekend trip, no big deal.

I never thought I would see a discussion about can openers on a lightweight forum. Kind of like having a Jenny Craig meeting at McDonald’s. For me taking canned goods is a mistake that I don’t want to repeat. That can of ravioli and various other cans seemed to weigh about 50 pounds after a 12 km hike uphill. At the time I was too cheap to buy dehydrated stuff but I learned from my mistake. Dehydrated = money well spent in my book.

Howie

Go to a camping or surplus store and ask for a militery style "P-38"" can opener. Tiny but effective.

Eric

Thanks for the help.

The P-38 that I use is one that I got from a C-ration when I was in the Army in the early 60's. Still going after nearly 50 years. It weighs about 0.2 oz and will open any can that needs to be opened. It is an exquisite little piece of engineering. Beware of Chinese import imitations; they don't hold up very well.

With the above said, I seldom take food along that requires a can opener so the P-38 is sort of an honorary gear item that gets used perhaps once a year. I know, I could reduce my pack weight by 0.2 oz if I were to leave it behind; I do sometimes. I just view it as a link with my youth.

I never haul cans backpacking either but a P-38 is always on my key ring. Those little guys do more than open cans! If you dress up the edge very slightly with a chain saw file or crock stick, they will cut string/tape, open boxes and envelopes. Not razor sharp but a little shaper than how they come. They'll do 80% of what I use a pocket knife for. For car camping they are great to have around.
What a wonderful little tool, Pika!

P 38's are great, another option is to get a Swiss Army knife with a can opener. Most of the fairly basic models have them.

Perhaps, however, a model with the can opener (like a climber) usually weighs more (60 Gr) than a SAK classic (14 grams) + a P-38 (I have no idea but nowhere near 45 grams)

Plus if you're like me and were never in the service so you ain't nostalgic about it you can remove the p-38 from your pack after the 5th trip you take it for a ride on your back and don't open any cans. You can't do that if it's part of your knife Yes it's only a little thing but the decision I'm talking about above is an ounce and a half, with no real loss in utility if you aren't dragging tins of ravioli with you. 10 of these such decisions is a pound of packweight.

I still carry my draft card for the same reason.

What is a P-38?

Howie

This:

http://www.rei.com/search?query=can+opener

Thanks. You Americans have a code for everything

50 draft cards is a pound of pack weight.

Personally, my pack isn't big enough to carry a P-38. But holding a can next to one of those spinning props would open it quite nicely.

No worries. Just put what ever you want in the luggage compartment, pack and all. You should be able to cover a lot of trail in one of those!

I used mine for TP in '73.

I also keep mine for practical reasons: you never know when someone's going to card you when you ask for a drink! (I'm 59, but hopeful. )

Multi use - that's the ticket.

Yeah, well the luggage rack is usually external on them things, and you know how we warn newbies about lashing things to the outside of packs:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1440762/posts