I do love a glass of wine on occasion, and these occasions seem to be occuring with increasing frequency. I have a 'French waiter's' corkscrew with a leverage arrangement; and a double lever corkscrew; you screw it down into the cork and then push down on the levers and the cork comes right out. But I see corkscrews without the lever mechanism; they're particularly popular on knives. One of the most popular tools on the Swiss army knife is a corkscrew, although I prefer a Phillips head screwdriver as I get more use out of that. And original design Laguioles have a corkscrew as well as a prong for curing bloat in sheep (don't ask). But considering the force needed to budge the cork with a lever, I wonder if I'd have strength enough to pull one without this mechanism. How do you do it? Do you just screw the thing into the cork and give an almighty yank or is there something I don't undestand about this? Enquiring minds want to know.

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Twist and pull steady.

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Dick

Diamondback nailed it.

Due to arthritis, I recently sucked it up and bought an electric corkscrew. Well worth it.

What you showed there is a knife with a cork screw. I'd find it of limited value unless I was feeling like the Incredible Hulk and didn't mind splashing wine everywhere.

A dedicated wine cork opener by the same French manufacturer Laguiole is my favorite. You screw it into the cork about 3/4 the way and then bend the top mechanism to the lip of the bottle... using that as the leverage point to lift out the cork. No fuss, no muss and voila!

BTW... The little knife of the end has a serrated edge to get traction in cutting the foil off the bottle.

NC, very nice! What is the handle?

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Diddums

I liked the two narrow, flat metal pieces that slid down between the cork and glass bottle for a quick and easy cork job.

However, with the new Plastic corks, this does not work as well, if at all, now.

These modern corks need the screw type puller to work every time..............I have four different type models from just a wood handle to bells, whistles and levers...............

Unless you down size in price and get the "Twist top caps" !!

Yeah, just keep on drinking enough of the sauce, and the cork removal problem will be eliminated with those "screw-offs" and boxes.

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wanna do right-- not right now

with the twist off cap such as Ripple, or Annie Greensprings

My personal choice is MD tho, never a cork to slow you down.

Not showy like the fancy knife ones but real easy to use is the screwpull & foil cutter.

My current fav is a box wine, only problem is you don't realize just how much you are drinking!

Nah, just do it like the GI's did on their march through France in 1944, break off the neck on a handy brick wall (lets the vino flow out faster).

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Minimize the variables

That's an asset not a problem!

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Lou

When you fall down the stairs it IS a problem.

And that, my friend, is why I only live in single story houses or condos with elevators.

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Diddums

NCTexan: Nice rig. I have one, too, made by Chateau Laguiole at Vialis; not as nice as yours. However, these are just French Waiters' corkscrews with a handle looking like a Laguiole knife.

The consensus seems to be that to use a corkscrew with no mechanical advantage, the way to do it is to twist and pull mightily. The French shepherds up in those high pastures in the southeast cornber of France, must have been a lot stronger than I to pull the cork on their bottle of wine with nothing but the corkscrew in their Laguioles.

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Or, just use your shoe: How to open a wine bottle with a shoe - YouTube

Well I'll be dagnabbed! I guess I'm gonna have to get one of them there shoe things. Beats the heck out of pullin a shoulder muscle using the old fashioned swiss army knife.

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

I can't figure this out, either. Every time I use a corkscrew on my wine box, it just makes a mess.

Looks like a knife or a key would be easier.

In my youth wine came in gallon jugs with a cork. Think my dad used table knife to unseal the cork. I believe he paid a dollar for Dago Red. Now it's called Burgandy. This was in the wine country of California.

Just Google sommelier knife.

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Music/Sports/Beer fan

Oh yeah, I can jess see me pullin off my shoe when me an the boys is squatted down in the alley shooting craps, and tellin em,"gimme that bottel of MD20-20 boys, an I'll show you how it oughtta be opened".

Then go to espaining it in that fancy way o talking.

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wanna do right-- not right now

I'll try that New Year's with the Champagne.

Almaden Mountain Red Burgundy. Or, for the relatively impecunious, something similar from Gallo. Nastiest hangovers in the world.

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Not in jail.

I work part time in a small winery tasting room. Probably open 50 or more bottles a week. We use standard leverage type sommelier knives. The two pronged German style cork tools are nice because they don't risk a broken cork. They are however tricky to learn and not very fast. The unsupported screws on Swiss army knives and the ones with just a T handle on top and no leverage are a waste of time and only for emergencies.

Regarding screw tops and box wine. While both technologies got off to a rough start due to their early adoption by producers of flavored, erzatz, cheap "wine", they are the future. Cork, since becoming popular as a floor and wall covering, is becoming more expensive and poorer quality. Plugging a bottle with a piece of tree bark is a thousand year old method fraught with problems from the get go. The Aussies are right on the cutting edge of screw top tech and I have had some 80 dollar bottles of that country's finest wines, all in screw tops. Some producers of better quality wines are now boxing their juice. Black Box and Bota Box come to mind. Have a glass of good red out of a bottle tonight, re-cork it and tomorrow it's not going to taste the same. The wine in a box won't oxidize for months and remains identical to the first glass you poured when you opened the box.
Never mind the significant problem of recycling glass. I'm good friends with the owners of our local recycling company. They cover a wide, rural area. They currently have a growing mountain of glass behind their facility as they get 4 dollars a ton for the glass when they haul it to the closest processor in Phoenix, but it costs them 5 dollars a ton to get it there.

When using a SAK, once you get the screw in most of the way, I grip the SAK with one hand and hold the bottle with the other.

I bring my support hand up until it meets the knuckles of my SAK hand. As you tighten your support hand it'll push your SAK hand up. If you use both together it's not nearly as hard as just pulling the SAK with all your might.

Those are cool, but I think it takes a bit of practice to get good with theml

I saw one that you stuck a needle though the cork and pumped air into the bottle. Seems like you could blow a bottle up with that. I guess they didn't catch on.

I think my favorite are the kind with two wings that raise up as you screw it into the cork. Push down on the wings and out it comes.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I think I've tried them all, and this is my favorite corkscrew Amazon.com: Le Creuset Table Model Wine Opener: Wine Accessory Sets: Kitchen & Dining@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41xiDKGmeGL.@@AMEPARAM@@41xiDKGmeGL.

I have one that operates just like this one.
Screw in the corkscrew, rotate the handles.
Cork is out!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Well-I am of the school that believes that in one cannot figure out how to open a bottle, box or can of spirits, beer or wine they don't deserve to drink.

Mother is the necessity of invention.

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Forum consigliere

I know the corkscrews on a Swiss Army work. We were at a friend’s house for dinner and they could not find their opener. They were getting desperate, he even talked about getting some "garage tools" and trying to open it that way.

I had my always carried handy dandy Swiss with me and said here try this. Well they sort of laughed at the little Swiss but did use it and of course it worked quite well.

PS I’m probably one of the few Italians that does not like wine so I did it for them, I drank a Pepsi instead.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

Exactly! That is what I was referring to when I said a screwpull. I was too lazy to look for a picture.

I prefer a waiter's corkscrew, my Swiss Army knife one. The simpler the better I say. I would like to find one of those old big T-handled ones. I have broken all of my fancy ones. If one cannot open a corked bottle with a basic tool, then one should switch to Thunderbird (as I did in my younger days-quite decent chilled).

Goes down quite well with the Vienna wienies and Cheetos.

I've been using this for a few years, now, and it's just right, easy to use, works first time - everytime with a nice clean cork pull...

Le Creuset Pocket Model Wine Opener:Amazon:Kitchen & Dining@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Itf9Kg1-L.@@AMEPARAM@@41Itf9Kg1-L

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

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S&W Girl, for sure.

It's getting the cork out without breaking or crumbling it that's the tricky part. When I was drinking wine I had lot of mishaps with corks. One time half a cork ended up in the bottle. Yuk.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Ah, the healthy lunch!

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Ah, the healthy lunch! I sort of miss those days.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Those things can be EXPENSIVE. Four and half hundred dollars?!?!?

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"