Carol, No that wasn't dumb. It is possible for aluminum to "rust" of a sort, and pit. However, this seal doesn't seem to be pitted in any way. I can even feel the finely machined grooves on the sealing portion of the aluminum. It seems to fit nice and snugly. Still, like you say it may not be a bad idea to test it out. Linda Lou, I had no idea what a used canner like this was worth. The seller was the original owner and probably paid less than $100 for it back in the 70s. I paid what he was asking because I knew new canners can get pretty expensive. But again, it was your post that informed me this was a usable (i.e. convertable) canner. Thanks again. As I indicated, there were some extra canning tools in the package. Some of them I already have, but some I don't recognize. Does anyone know the use for the following canning tools? Here is a closeup of these things. Notice the one on the left has a metal tab at the hinge point, and the one on the right doesn't. What is that metal tab for? Here is a different tool I've never seen before: Thanks.

The biggest complaint about the "Eggies" that I've read is 4 parts per unit. Really, is that necessary? Anyway, you do need to spray them. I've seen a lot of complaints that they leak. I imagine you need to really crank them down to seal. Other things I've read and learned about eggs. First, NEVER boil them! People insist you need to boil eggs. It should only be a simmer. For a variety of reasons, including the boiling makes them jump around and crack which causes problems. And I use the method of bringing them to a simmer and shut off the heat and let the water cook them. Start running cold water into the hot and let it pour out and do a couple flushings with cold water then peel. I don't usually keep hard cooked eggs around but seldom have major trouble with shells. Vinegar might help but too much makes for a sulphur smell. Baking soda changes the pH and helps, and a little salt generally helps for the coagulation that the vinegar is supposed to assist. Peeling techniques vary too but I see so many people who insist on snapping off little pieces rather than actually peeling them. They bang away on the counter and break the shell into hundreds of pinhead size pieces and then complain that "it's hard to peel eggs!" Well DUH! Of *course* it will be when you do that! LOL Crack the egg, best to do it on the large end to use the air pocket to help you. Get a hold of the membrane - many try to leave it as part of the egg. Go slowly and let the suction release and as the air gets in there it always makes it easier for me. Trying to remove little bits and pieces of shell is a PITA. It takes a whisker of patience but I can usually remove the shell in 3-4 pieces. Easier peeling and easier cleanup too. There's a "On TV" gadget out there that is a big plunger thing that works much like the blowing of eggs. I guess if I'm eating the egg myself, to try blowing it isn't a big deal but I don't really like someone else spitting on my eggs. Though reviews of that haven't been the greatest either, it'd be a lot easier to clean than 4 pieces of "eggie" per egg! There's also arguments out there about cooking in plastic but I won't go into that. I usually can taste plastic from things but I might be more sensitive than others. All in personal preference. I don't really mind peeling eggs when they're cooked right, have good eggs for peeling and have a little luck. Seems like there's always one or two in there that are tough to peel no matter what you do. Also, if I just want some chopped egg in a salad or something, I usually don't simmer (never boil) them. I'll fry an egg and chop it up to add. Or even microwave it. Which reminds me, my sister and her boyfriend bought those microwave egg cookers. I use a little glass Pyrex dish.

althetrainer, if you think he'd use it and it gets your little guy away from canned chili, I think that justifies the purchase. Canned chili is an abomination in my opinion, and the sodium level has to be out of sight. I see on line that your gadget costs two payments of $19.99, which brings it to $39.98 here too. I seldom use gadgets, other than that farm animal shaped waffle iron. My basement has a panini press that Elery bought, used once. Maybe twice. It's right next to the George Foreman Grill, the stick blender and the big electric griddle. There are two of us here, three max, but I could make breakfast for a dozen with that thing! There's that marinating machine down there too, somewhere. Elery digs it out and uses it when he's here, LOL. Oh, and a turkey fryer and a countertop convection oven. All Elery's, he brought them here because we "might use them". Yeah. We might. Probably not. I'm not a gadget person, I went through my gadget drawer in the kitchen and threw a bunch of stuff away, I couldn't shut the drawer easily and I never use the stuff. The little thing to pick pickles out of jars, the soft paintbrush that I used for pastry once and found that it shed bristles, the rolling knife sharpener, the plastic thingy that goes into a lemon so you can squeeze out just a little juice. That said, I do use the iced tea maker and the meat slicer, the ice cream freezer and the silpat, the silicon brushes and the extendable magnet I bought to pick canning lids out of boiling water. I guess one person's gadget is another person's valuable appliance. Truthfully, I don't see much difference in buying something like your Express and buying a fancy platter that gets used once a year at Thanksgiving or a on-sale set of crystal glasses or a silver pie server "for holidays and parties". If you paid $40 and you use it once a year, it's all the same, I think. You buy it, you store it, you seldom use it. You want a cut glass punch bowl or a silver tea set but you don't drink tea? Go for it. You think hubs might use the GT Express, keep it. Hey, I bought those Spode soup bowls and have used them exactly twice. Once Elery and I used them and the Princess ate some Cinnamon Toast Crunch in one when she spent the night last weekend. I still love 'em, and think they're worth the $16 I spent on them. Yup, it's all a matter of perspective... Annie

I bought the pull and chop as a present and tried it- now I have to get one myself!! Thanks beachem! I don't know if it is kosher to post here but I saw that bargainhunter above posted about how useful the Thermomix was. I am now selling my older model Euro Thermomix TM21 including the 240V transformer (to allow it to work on North American 120V circuits) on our craigslist if someone wants to try out the Thermomix abilities at a bargain price and is driving distance to Baltimore. It works well and I am including several Thermomix cookbooks. You can pm me if you want to see the listing. I also have a small electric egg cooker that I no longer use since I get consistently perfect hard boiled eggs on my induction cooktop so any gardenwebber is welcome to that if they can pick it up. Also several slow cookers that I don't use since I got my instant pot- just pm me. Would be great if someone could arrange a gardenweb kitchen gadgets or equipment swap /giveaway date some time!