I don't actually own a canner yet.
I will be using SIL's at her house to get my feet wet (obviously not literally) and from there purchase something. Most likely a bath canner as I have a fear learned at the elbow of my mother of pressure canners. She never had one, but I heard enough horror stories from her, and as a kid had a few friends with hideous scars all over their bodies from pressure canning gone awry, that has left me with a bowel-liquefying fear of anything that cooks with pressure.
Yes, I know that similar mishaps can occur with ANYTHING that boils water. I never knew anyone who suffered scarring as a result of cooking macaroni and cheese or Top Ramen, so I’m sticking with my irrational fear of pressure cookers and canners.
Whether or not I can get over this fear and embrace using one of these beasts remains to be seen. I have never gotten over my fear of spiders, but maybe pressure canners will be a whole different ball game.