I've tried 'em all. Mounted Swing-Aways, hand-held Swing-Aways,
electric, hand, etc. I even hadda old style hand can opener that had
both church key and bottle opener as part of the handles. But lately,
I'm reduced to using a P38 style opener fer any kinda efficacy.
Chinese-made swing-aways are useless. I've bought 2-3 from the local
thrift store. Tossed 'em all.

I'm starting to wonder if it is NOT the opener's fault, but the cans
now being used. One old opener I had worked great on several cans, if
not somewhat difficult to operate, it having a small butterfly handle.
The handle is a direct connection to the notched wheel that turns the
can. Well, I noticed on the last can I failed to open, the can seemed
to be made of aluminum and the notched wheel jes chewed the rim up and
did very little turning. This is true of the Chinese made
Swing-Aways. The cutting wheel does indeed pierce the can lid, but
the iffy notched drive wheel lets the cutting wheel ride up outta the
pierced groove and I end up with two un-pierced (un-cut) sections of
the lid. Soft metal on rims?? Perhaps.

I tossed the old openers and dug out my only p38 style opener on the
handle bottem of a pair of kitchen shears. Slow, but completes the
job.

I asked a non-cooking buddy what he and his lady-friend use. He
related how they use a side-cutting (Zyliss, etc) opener with no
problems. Izat what I need to buy? One of them newfangled
side-cutting do-dads?

nb