Well, I use Atlas and Golden Harvest. My Atlas "strong shoulders" are old jars from my MIL. The Golden Harvest come from Walmart. I bought some of them when I couldn't find Ball or Kerr at the end of the season.

Both kinds work just fine for me, though I know some have complained that they had more breakage with the Golden Harvest. That hasn't been my experience.

You may have some Atlas Mason that spaghetti sauces come in. Those are newer. I have a few (also inherited from MIL) but haven't tried them or even checked the threads to see if they're compatible. They certainly look heavy enough for canning.

Carol

I too use both. I did buy some mincemeat once that came in an Atlas jar that appeared to be good for canning, only to find that the rim was not the standard size!!

I have at least two dozen Atlas Mason spaghetti jars. I'm not sure they still make them with the standard screw bands. They're all 24 oz. size. Most that I see today have the lug closures. I also pressure canned tomato juice in them and never had a failure. I see no difference in Golden Harvest and Ball. I bought 35 dozen Golden Harvest lids[.99]doz. at Big Lots, used all of them and all sealed. They are now out of stock.
The Walmart near me just restocked with canning supplies. What a surprise. Did buy 8oz. jelly jars for $6.54. Quilted were .50 more. Lids were $1.22. Now I can make my currant jelly with the juice I canned in August.

I also have several Atlas "strong shouldered" jars that were my Grandma's. I still use them, but I never give them to anyone, I want to keep them. I know I can't replace them. I also have some of the Atlas spaghetti sauce jars, but I don't know how old or new they are. If a standard ring and lid fits the threads, I use the jar.

Golden Harvest is just the "cheaper" version of modern canning jars, often available at WalMart and Big Lots. I have had some trouble with them, I got a box that had some "bubbles" in the glass and a couple of those broke. I've never had the lids not seal, but I haven't used many of them, they don't seem to be as commonly available here as other places.

Shirley, my local WalMart has also restocked, I was astounded, they never restock this time of year. Now I need to go and pick up some more lids.

Annie

My Walmart hasn't restocked and I doubt they will. They never do, which is crazy, because this is one of those areas where lots of people can and the demand for jars and lids is fairly steady right up to Christmas.

Carol

Golden Harvest are the same maker as Ball and are their 'budget' type. You can also find them at Big Lots stores during the mid summer. I ran out of pints this year and wish I had bought more. I use both Ball and GH jars in regular mouth pints and quarts. The GH type are ever so slightly thinner, but use the same lids and rings as Ball. The only thing left at Bigh Lots were the ring/lid boxes and I bought several for future use. Ball jars can be found at True Value hardware stores all over the country. Also Agway stores sell them. Some of the local supermarkets will carry a limited amount as well, but these go fast at the peak of canning season.

Oh, and gardengrl? In addition to the Atlas and Golden Harvest, I've got some Mom's, some Mason, some Anchor Hocking, some bicentennial canning jars, a few LongLife, a Sterling or two, and a bunch of blue and green jars.

Many types of canning jars were made, and if you find your jars at yard sales, rummage sales, second hand stores, etc., you may get many different types.

Annie

I know this is an old thread, but if someone else comes accross it, here is what I have found.

I can still get the ATLAS MASON jars here, they have the Classico speghetti sauces in them. I think they are available at Homeland.

These jars accept standard Ball or GH lids and bands.

I have not canned with these jars yet, but have aquired about 2 dozen of them. I like the fact that they are somewhat square, and have 8oz. lines recessed into the glass so you know roughly how much you've put in the jar.

Anyway, I will post a follow-up once I have canned with them.

I've got a bunch of the Classico spaghetti sauce Atlas Mason jars -- they do have compatible threads (at least as sold in Canada), and they've held up just fine in canning when I've done it.

Zabby

Didn't we just have a thread on this?

The entire spaghetti sauce industry is in the process of changing the mouth size and sealing system on their jars. So the square, 24 oz jars may or may not accept standard canning lids/rings.

If they do, they are fine for canning. I've used them for years (in fact, just put up a canner load of diced tomatoes in them) with no problems whatsoever. But I wouldn't buy the sauce just to get the jars, because you might be disappointed.

Classico jars have a deeper rim where the threads are further down the glass. They could work with the current Ball lids and rings, but thats not always the case.

This is an interesting thread, and perhaps answers a few questions that I had.

Just experienced a 3rd Golden Harvest quart jar that broke. The first time was with raw packed chicken - I thought it was thermal shock - when I put it in the pressure canner.

Recently, when canning combo peaches/pears, the 2nd quart popped when inserted into the water bath. As I had already filled a 2nd quart - decided not to put it in, but put it in the fridge for immediate eating. Next day, my son noted that the jar was cracked. Good thing I didn't go ahead.

My only thought was that these jars had been in an outside storage shed for quite a few years when I was working, and only recently salvaged for canning. As I was only having problems with these quarts, it appeared to be the only reason.

I prefer the pint sizes anyway, so I think I will dump the remaining 5 or 6 quarts left, and save myself the grief.

Bejay

Bejay, I had some problems with a case of Golden Harvest jars last year too, they had bubbles that I could see and a couple of them broke. One was actually lopsided instead of straight.

I wrote to the company, with no reply, of course.

Annie

Recently bought some Classico Sauce in an Atlas Mason jar.
The ring size is standard and the lid appears to be the 1-piece reusable type. Jars are less than 1 Qt (26 oz?), but well made and work fine. The threads are same as standard Mason jars... no problems.
The sauce is not bad either... $2.08 at local WalMart.

I have resued the Atlas jars over and over many times year after year the Goldedharvest bands and lids fit. I have been having a hard time every year getting the Goldenharvest jars at Biglots and could not find any this year.I went to a glass and container wholeseller in Tampa and got 30 cases of jars, there just like a mayo jar smooth side no logo and the self sealing Plastisol lids with the botton to know that they sealed. This is a one piece lid. I like the smooth side easier for labeling. They tend to a little cheaper then Biglots Goldenharvest which have gone up a lot in the last few yrs. The jars with lids cost about .52 cents ea and the have many sizes including sauce bottles for those of you who make sauces. The company is All American Cantainer in Tampa Fl and other locations.....hope this helps all who do home canning

Such a score!! A couple of my friends had boxes and bags of old jars sitting around and gave them to me. I'm canning soup and venison today so opened another box and found Atlas strong shoulders! Seems very sturdy, more so than the new Ball ones I've purchased recently. I'm very tickled to have them! Lori