I enjoy wine. When traveling, or at a hotel, (for my future needs), I'd like to enjoy wine.

However, when I look at my 'minimalist equipped to survive' tools, I lack a tool with corkscrew.

I have the Benchmade knife from Doug Ritter (the yellow one...but I think I ruined the bladed trying to cut some tree sticks)

I have the KA-BAR knife (says 4062 which I assume is the model) and a SOG Crossgrip.

Any recommendations? I see the Swiss Army knives on Amazon but the all have almost 5 stars. Tought to make a choice. Or perhaps it should be easier.

I have the big nasty (well, for Victorinox anyway) Victorinox Rucksack. Big 4" locking blade, saw, screwdriver, awl, etc., and a corkscrew.

Dave

I don't prefer the Victorinox corkscrews. Just not a good idea, IMO, to be pulling with 100lbs of force on that little hinge.

Just pack a small corkscrew. They're not too big. Unless you're talking about literally EDC, and not "at the hotel after work." then I guess you're stuck with a SAK. I like my camper, never felt the need for a lock on them.

You are applying no force on the hinge when you use the SAK corkscrew.
The Sock

+1. Any large 4" SAK w/ corkscrew would make an excellent all-around utility tool at a competitive price. BTW, I've used the corkscrew on my SAK Rucksack many times and it never failed. Nor did I notice any side effects. The knife is plenty solid enough to stand up to whatever force is applied when using the corkscrew.

I EDC a Victorinox Tinker (usually) or a Voyager Lite. The corkscrews on them have opened many bottles of wine for me. Although they lack a locking blade, they have a few benefits that outweigh that negative, IMO.

- scissors (best tool on a SAK, for my $$)
- second blade (one for messy jobs, one for finer work)
- fits more easily into chino pockets, and into a business atmosphere in general. The mid-range SAKs are ubiquitous, and don't frighten anyone.

If I were buying a new pocketknife today, I'd look at the Wenger Evolutions. Although they have not yet figured out that the perfect combination equals 2 blades plus scissors, they have added a locking main blade to their mid-range knives.

I have found an opening technique that works well with the SAK. It's not pretty, but it keeps the wine in the bottle.
1. Insert corkscrew as usual.
2. Stand up, and brace bottle between your feet.
3. Bend at the knees and grasp the knife body.
4. Lift with the legs and twist slightly.

The cork comes out like it's greased, and the bottle doesn't move. Also entertaining at cocktail parties.

You could also go a non-SAK route. Here are a couple examples I've looked at, although I don't have either myself.

Opinel with corkscrew

Baladeo Laguiole

Baladeo's version of a SAK

On that last one - personally, if I were going to go with something like a SAK, I'd just get a SAK...I don't know that anyone does that better than the Swiss.

Dave

Victorinox Rucksack

I really like the corkscrew on the Leatherman Juice line. It adds the mechanical advantage of a lever (like a waiter's corkscrew), so it works with less effort. The only one of the line that doesn't include the corkscrew is the base-model S2.

Leatherman Pocket Tools

There are other ways to remove a cork. You can push the cork into the bottle instead of pulling it out. All you need is a stick or rod. Just be careful about making a big splash by pushing to hard.

You can turn the bottle so the cork is covered by wine and spank the cork out of the bottle. This is a bit hard to describe in words but spanking the bottom of an upside down or sideways wine bottle sets up a hydrostatic shock that will push the cork out.
It does not work well with champagne though.

You're pulling against the force that the cork, which is stuck in the bottle. So, true, the user isn't "applying" force, the cork actually is.

And since the corkscrew is attached via a joint, there is force being transmitted along that joint into the handle. That little screw in the joint (or divot, or whatever it's called) is the most likely piece to break in actual use.

Ah, now I understand what you are saying. But really,have you ever known anyone break one of these corkscrews? They knew what they were designing them for.
A 'Butlers friend' is cute. You can remove the corkscrew; have a sip, then replace it with no one knowing :-). Hence the name.
The Sock

I don't drink much wine. Do they, like, weld those corks in there?! You'd have to have two Sumo wrestlers using the buddy system to get that thing open.

Sometimes it can be tough to get the cork out and you can definitely struggle with even the cork screw on a SAK.

Best to use one of these;

http://www.amazon.com/Park-Tool-USA-Campagnolo-Corkscrew/dp/B001KKOEFG

or just get a bottle of wine with a screw top or just drink some Port.

Meh, never broke one.

This is the kind of innovative thinking that has made this forum a great forum. This begs the question "what is the ideal PSK alcohol-bearing drink?". Probably not wine- low etoh content, heavy glass container, difficult access with one hand disabled. Would it be everclear in a nalgene bottle? 151 rum in a coconut shell? or should we consider tablet-form pharmaceuticals with effects similar to ethanol, like valium or ativan?

Been using the corkscrew on my SAK for a long time now... Never had an issue with it...

I knew a guy who had one, got it as a gift from Campy USA, then again, he was the local Campy dealer, and had the full set of Super Record tools (including all the frame builders tools). Guess he gave them enough money over the years

My weight loss goal is to be able to get back on my now vintage "Super Reduced Atala team frame" road bike - actually a Criterium frame

YES, I have broken a corkscrew on a folder while attempting to pull a corkscrewe out.

And I remember it well. 18 months ago at the end of a six mile walk, using my buck summit the corkscrew part actually pulled out of the knife, while trying to yank the cork out. It broke at the base of the screw, not the joint.

Pretty shocking since the knife is otherwise great. I got the cork out using an SAK with a corkscrew.


Victorinox has a knife called "the waiter" which is their smallest knife with a corkscrew. Also has a knife and combo toll -can opener, bottle opener, screwdriver. Works well.

What exactaly did you do to it?!!!



On the main question...
Don't you carry a large blade too?
Just use the la saberage technique.
Here is how to do it...

The Campag tools are superb, I've still got the frame builders toolset as well from my frame building days when I was a master frame builder Reynolds 753 approved.



Four times distilled Islay Spirit would probably be the ultimate PSK alcohol-bearing drink as demonstrated here near the end of the video;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDQG_VdaH_s

Wolf Blass Bilyara Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, South Australia, 2004 and Chardonay 2005 is available with a screw top PET bottle designed specifically for a BOB.

Breaking a SAK corkscrew???????

Some people worry waaaaaaaaay too much.

Get a SAK Camper or Climber, leave it in your shaving kit for travel.

I have and old Camper that has been around the world.

Everclear. Potency/weight can't be beat, and you can use it as an antiseptic or as a stove fuel (or very fast-burning firestarter). I used to hike with a guy who carried his in a fold-up Platypus bottle. We'd roll into camp, he'd use it to fill his alcohol stove, light it, and then he'd casually take a swig from the fuel bottle while dinner cooked. The look on the other hikers' faces was priceless.

BTW, that's not begging the question. http://begthequestion.info/
I used to get it wrong all the time . . .

That's my choice too. The lever-assist gives you something to push against; it's a much-better engineered solution.

The corkscrew itself is a trifle thin so there is a danger of it pulling through the cork. It does work though. A couple of years ago on a skiing holiday, the hotel left a complimentary bottle of wine in my room. If I'd not had my Juice with me, I'd have had to take it down to reception to get it opened.

Given the swords so many expurts are promoting, the classic cavalry sabre knock off the neck should work.
But if my idea gets around there will be 15 new threads on the various cutlery forums, each claiming to have invented the winebotttle cutting choil or something first.

I have a full on sommelier's tool with chain.

anyplace you can buy wine will have a box of cheap corkscrews at the checkout counter.i would go that route rather than look everywhere for a knife with one built into it..i don't think i've ever seen a pocket knife that had a corkscrew that any guts to it..

I totally agree, and I've needed a corkscrew often enough to carry a knife that includes one: the Buck Knife 761BLX Twin Peaks, at

http://www.hand-tools.com/product-detail.php?prodnum=B761BLX

My copy of the knife has Buck on the big blade, but no logo on the handle. The knife has a window-cracker built into the handle (the "lanyard hole" referred to in the page above), two blades (one half-serrated to cut your seatbelt), a can/bottle opener, and the corkscrew.

Pocket corkscrews like this:

http://www.penimpressions.com/poccor.html

are an option, but they are another item to have on your keychain/in your pocket/whereever, so having one built into the knife is definitely a plus if you don't mind the bigger size required to house the screw.

Me, GF, bread, cheese and a nice Bordeaux on a bench in the back yard of Louis' house at Versailles. . . Victornox Champion (my first SAK) opened the bottle. I have yet to meet a bottle of wine that can defeat an SAK corkscrew.

scafool's on it - have a TTP in place for when the corkscrew gets left behind or breaks. Whittle out as much of the cork as you can and push the rest down in the bottle or 'spank' it - though I hit the bottle base against a tree trunk, not my hand. But it does work.

Sabrage is normally reserved for bottles of the bubbly, but who's to say it won't work on the vino? Gotta try that.

//goes to look for cavalry sabre

Excerpted (for review purposes only) from Mollod and Tesauro's "The Modern Lover," with special reference to sabrage at weddidngs:

During Napoleon's early-1800s heyday, the Hussars celebrated victory with sabrage, the art of beheading a Champagne bottle with a saber. Rumors abound that the tradition began with the grand widow of bubbly, Madame Clicquot, who gave handsome mounted officials bottles of Veuve Clicquot. Inspired by thirst and the recent Reign of Terror, horseback soldiers drew sabers and decapitated their bottles like so many traitors.

The guillotine is long since retired, yet sabrage lives on with the bottle-chopping sabreurs of the Confreirie du Sabre d'Or. Champagne sabering is now reserved for special occasions too festive for extracting corks with a mere twist of the hand.

Bastille Day is never an appropriate time to behead a bottle, and personal holidays worthy of the spectacle include anniversaries, birthdays, and weddings. Don't fret if you can't afford the airfare for a trip to sabre school at the Grand Chapitre; we've spelled out the practical swordsmanship necessary to saber the day:

1. Make sure the Champagne or sparkling wine is well chilled. A warm bottle has higher pressure and risks the foaming loss of much wine, not to mention a loved one's eyeball. Remove the foil and cage; it the bottle is cold enough, the cork won't shoot off prematurely.

2. Examine the bottle and find one of the two vertical seams running up the sides. The spot on the bottleneck where this seam meets the lower lip is the weak point, for which you'll aim. Until you've logged some sabre successes, remove any remaining foil from the neck to spot your target more easily at the base of the ring-shaped lip, known as the annulus. (Should you muff the beheading and maim a bridesmaid, note that this word is conveniently located on the same dictionary page as annulment.)

3. Place your left thumb (unless you're a southpaw) inside the punt (bottom indentation) or simply grip the bottle firmly around the base. Angle the bubbly around 30 degrees above horizontal, pointed away from nearby persons, chandeliers, or stained glass windows. Use a serviette or napkin to dry off a sweating, slippery bottle.

4. Take the sabre in your other hand (handle perpendicular to the seam) and lay the blade flat just below the lip of the bottle. With the blade aimed at the annulus, take a couple of slow motion practice swings to get a feel for the coup de grace to come.

5. Swing with full force away from your body, upward along the neck, and into the bottom of the lip, making sure to follow through. To minimize spillage, immediately turn the bottle upright. The impact, combined with the bottle's internal pressure, spectacularly separates the head from the neck and thrusts the cork, annulus still intact, several feet into the air.

When the bottle is struck perfectly, anticipate a breathless pause before the sabre clang against glass gives way to a dramatic gush of fizz. You ought to lose no more than an ounce of wine, fair trade for the gallons of accolades poured upon the sabreur who masters this feat.

Laguiole, king of handmade French cutlery and corkscrews, produces a rose handle sabre just for beheading Champagne. Priced as a generous wedding gift, it's the ideal present for a bride and groom to open at the reception, right before it's put to use on the bubbly for the best man's toast. If no one ponies up a gift-wrapped saber, don't reach for great-grandpa's WWI rapier or a faux samurai sword bought at a county fair swap meet. Simply ask the caterer for a heavy blade or any massive knife you'd use to carve a turkey. For the sake of the chef's good manner, turn the honed end around and strike with the back side.

Nice touch: Position two groomsmen: one plays centerfield with a top hat as the other bides with a Champagne flute. The outfielder catches the cork on the fly while the other spares precious drops of bubbly with a glass at the ready.

I've never had a problem with a SAK corkscrew, but it IS rather tough to pull out the cork without some spillage.

I'm with Canoedogs - buy that cheapie corkscrew (the one where the crosspiece acts as the sheath for the screw) and toss it in your shaving kit. Heck, it might fit in a PSP if you're uber-wine hardcore.

Leatherman Flair: great corkscrew with a solid lever action. Not an active product, but you could buy used with confidence--the things last forever.

Buck Summit 760 has a corkscrew, but no lever. Using the knife body as a lever will bend the corkscrew, which is relatively brittle. The summit does have a nice feel to it otherwise.

HTH

I put an earlier comment up about using the buck summit to open wine. I snapped the corkscrew off the second time I used it. An otherwise excellent tool.

The knife is still in the glove compartment of my van along with the cork. Will get around to sending it to Buck one of these days.

+10 - I've been opening wine bottles with SAKs for probably 30 years this way. I've never lost a bottle, spilled wine, broke a SAK, or busted up a cork (or rendered it unusable for re-stoppering). I would shudder to guess at the number of bottles I've opened. My friend was a server for probably 25+ years and has always used his SAK (readily available) behind the scenes at restaurants or when catering, but the house "approved" opener when out amongst the tables. He couldn't put a figure on the number of bottles he's opened with SAKs.

Sure, there may be better wine openers that take less effort or that look more cool, but I'll take my SAKs any day over the competition. They are immediately available to me. At home, even though the house wine openers are always in the same drawer, my SAK comes out in a flash and I'm done long before I fish the others out of the drawer.

BTW, I HAVE broken a good number of wine openers...metal, plastic, wood handled, etc. If that ever happens to a SAK from such standard use, I may faint dead away.

I hate to sound like a cheerleader, but...

I've tried both the SAK and Leatherman corkscrew...both are fairly poor. The Leatherman lever was flimsy, after trying to open a bottle of wine a few times with it,I was afraid I would break the lever and give up.

Now I just take my corkscrew with me, the most dependable are the

Pulltap
Pulltap

Or the KEA

KEA

Yes, but sometimes with the small corkscrew of SAK you could have problem with the old cork of older (and fine) bottle....

So before lift, it's better to first push when you have only a SAK.
Doing that first, you move the scork downward and the pressure of gas inside the bootle will help you to lift the cork without destroying it....

Here (France) it is difficult to find a pocket knife without a corkscrew...

The corkscrew in my Victorinox made German Army Knife has never failed me. AND it only cost me around $6 from the good folks at the SOSAK.

I used to struggle to remove corks with the SAK until I realized that I was doing it the hard way! You aren't supposed to screw it in and pull like an idiot until your face turns red and you damage your shoulder. The trick is to screw it down all the way, then use the SAK as a lever (it is hinged you know) and pry the cork out as far as the knife/corkscrew/hinge allows - THEN you pull the remaining distance. I haven't had any trouble since I learned that technique.

next bottle of wine i open i'll try that out..makes sense,thats the way the waiters corkscrews work--