Prep Tools

Canning Lid Sealer (Zakatka)

A hand tool that crimps metal lids tightly onto jars for airtight home preserving.

A canning lid sealer, known in Eastern Europe as a zakatka, is a hand-cranked or lever tool that rolls and crimps a metal lid onto the lip of a glass jar. It creates the airtight seal needed for water-bath and pressure canning of pickles, jams, tomatoes, and other preserves. The mechanical roller ensures an even, leak-proof crimp that hand pressure alone cannot achieve.

The Zakatka is the workhorse sealing tool of Russian and post-Soviet home preserving, built to crimp one-piece metal "euro" or twist-off lids onto the rim of a Soviet-standard glass preserving jar. Unlike the Western Mason system, which uses a flat lid held down by a reusable screw band, this hand tool mechanically folds the lid's flange down and around the jar's threaded rim in a single squeeze, locking the pre-gasketed cap in place. The airtight vacuum that actually preserves the food forms later, during heat processing, as expanding air is driven out and the cooling contents pull the lid into a permanent concave shape.

For a cook running a serious pantry of pickled cucumbers, tomato sauces, fruit compotes, or meat preserves, the sealer takes the fiddliness out of separate bands and loose rings — you set the lid, squeeze, and move on. The trade-offs are real, though: lids are single-use, jar and lid diameters must match the tool precisely, and the mechanical crimp on its own is not a food-safe seal. Every sealed jar still needs to be heat-processed in a boiling water bath or pressure canner before it goes on the shelf.

Alternatives

Modern Two Piece Canning Lids With RingsA Vacuum Jar SealerWeck Style Clamp Jars

Types & varieties

Handheld plier (щипцы)

Classic scissor- or plier-style tool squeezed by hand; the most common household version, usually sized to one specific jar diameter

Lever / bench press sealer (рычажный закаточник)

Larger screw-down or lever device braced or mounted against a table; reduces hand fatigue and gives a more uniform crimp

Universal / adjustable sealer

Accommodates several jar diameters (e.g., 0.5 L, 1 L, 2 L, 3 L) with swappable or self-adjusting heads

Wide-mouth version

Sized for 80–100 mm jar mouths rather than the standard 70–82 mm Soviet rim profile

How the seal actually forms

The Zakatka is easy to misuse because the visible action — the squeeze of the crimper — looks like the moment food becomes "canned." It is not. The tool does only half the work.

The crimp locks the lid onto the rim mechanically; without it, the lid would simply lift off after processing.
The airtight seal is created by the heat-processing step: as the jar heats, trapped air expands and escapes through the gasket; on cooling, the contents contract and pull the lid center down into a permanent concave dip.
That concavity is your seal. Press the center of a cooled lid; if it flexes or pops back up, the seal has failed and the food must be refrigerated and reprocessed with a fresh lid.
Because vacuum depends on temperature swing and headspace, you must still respect standard preserving rules: correct headspace, correct processing time, and the correct method for the food's acidity.

Choosing the right sealer and matching lids

Most sealing problems trace back to a size mismatch. Soviet and post-Soviet jars come in a handful of standard mouth diameters, and each sealer is built around one of them — or built to swap between them.

Identify your jar's mouth diameter before buying either the tool or the lids; lids marked only in millimetres (e.g., 82 mm) are more reliable than ones marked by jar volume.
European / Russian twist-off lids and American Mason lids are not interchangeable — the rim profiles and diameters differ.
If you preserve across several jar sizes, an adjustable or swappable-head sealer is worth the extra cost over buying two single-size pliers.
For acidic foods (fruits, pickles, tomatoes) a boiling water bath is sufficient; for low-acid foods (meat, mushrooms, stews) a pressure canner is required regardless of how good the crimp looks.

Common uses

Canning pickled vegetables, tomatoes, fruits, jams, and meat preserves in Soviet/post-Soviet glass jarsSealing twist-off / "euro" lids onto 0.5 L, 1 L, 2 L, and 3 L standard preserving jarsSpeeding up batch preserves by replacing separate bands and rings with a single mechanical crimpWorking alongside a boiling water bath or pressure canner to produce shelf-stable food

Tips & pitfalls

Always use a new lid — never reuse one; the gasket is single-use and will not reseal reliably
Match the lid diameter exactly to the jar mouth; Soviet / European jars are not interchangeable with standard American Mason jar lids
Wipe the jar rim thoroughly with a clean damp cloth before seating the lid — any food residue will break the seal
Seat the lid squarely on the rim before crimping to avoid skewed, leaking seals
Apply firm, even pressure all the way around; partial crimps let liquid escape during processing
The mechanical crimp alone is not a food-safe seal — always heat-process in a boiling water bath or pressure canner afterward
After cooling 12–24 hours, test each seal: the lid center should be depressed and not spring back when pressed; flexing lids must be refrigerated and the food reprocessed with a fresh lid
If a lid buckles or folds during crimping, the lid or jar is the wrong size — stop and switch, do not try to bend it back into place
Store finished jars in a cool, dark, dry place (ideally 10–15 °C / 50–60 °F); light and heat will degrade both the seal and the food

Good to know

Type: Hand-operated mechanical jar lid crimper / sealer
Compatible lid type: One-piece European / "twist-off" metal caps with a pre-applied polymer or rubber gasket
Compatible jars: Soviet / Russian glass preserving jars, typically 0.5 L, 1 L, 2 L, and 3 L
Sealing method: Mechanical crimp of the lid flange around the jar rim; the vacuum forms later during heat processing
Lid reusability: Single-use only — the gasket is good for one seal
Heat processing required: Yes — sealed jars must be processed in a boiling water bath or pressure canner for safe storage
Seal test: After 12–24 h cooling, the lid center should be concave (depressed) and not flex when pressed
Origin: Russian / post-Soviet home-canning market; the name comes from the Russian word for the sealing process (закатка)
Tool lifespan: Indefinite with care — a long-term reusable piece of equipment