# A wood screw, a drill, a fork and wine? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 12, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181 "2011-06-12T02:28:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![automagic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@automagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/automagic)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181/1 "2011-06-12T02:28:45Z")
I had no way of opening my bottle of wine. I had lost my wine opener and had my friends looking at me like I was the worst person on earth. So I took a wood screw drilled it into the cork and used a fork to pull out the cork by pulling the wood screw. It worked like a charm. Any other ideas for opening wine without an opener? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Surb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Surb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Surb)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181/2 "2011-06-12T02:38:23Z")
I have never tried this but, if you hit the bottle against a hard object repeatedly, opposite end of the cork, it will force the cork out. [Like this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ha-OrqTfv8&feature=related). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181/3 "2011-06-12T02:40:04Z")
[Here ya go.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngtiUKH_ygc) I’ve never done it myself, but seems to be _the_ way to open a bottle without a corkscrew. Though most people use a tree instead of a brick wall. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181/4 "2011-06-12T02:41:11Z")
I once used a screwdriver to screw a wood screw into a cork and then used my leatherman to pull the cork out. We labeled it “emergency corkscrew” and it sat on the counter for the next two months. Now I have 4 corkscrews which I think is sad. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181/5 "2011-06-12T02:46:43Z")
If you don’t have a screw, an always reliable way to open one is just to push the cork all the way into the bottle and then pour. It makes little cork bits get in the wine sometimes but those are easy to scoop out because they float. An even better way is to switch to non-corked fine wine brands like Thunderbird, Night Train, and Boone’s Farm. They never give you that problem. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181/6 "2011-06-12T02:47:51Z")
OP does not compute. I am never without a corkscrew/alternate opening tool unless I’m naked. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181/7 "2011-06-12T02:54:21Z")
I’ve used a drywall screw and a hammer before; worked great. I’ve managed with a pair of flathead screwdrivers, jamming them both in on opposite sides of the cork and levering it out, but it mangled the cork pretty badly and left cork shreds in the wine, which is sub-optimal. ---
**Author:** ![not\_austin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c68b51/32.png) [@not\_austin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_austin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-wood-screw-a-drill-a-fork-and-wine/585181/8 "2011-06-12T17:22:29Z")
Tie a knot in a piece of sting, push cork into bottle, feed knotted end of string into bottle then tip bottle so the knot is under the cork. pull string to extract cork.