# Do you own a cork screw? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560 "2009-03-15T22:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/1 "2009-03-15T22:39:29Z")
Do you own a cork screw (or something similar?) IOW, If someone dropped by with a bottle of wine, would you be able to get it open? ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/2 "2009-03-15T22:41:38Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Do you own a cork screw (or something similar?) > > IOW, If someone dropped by with a bottle of wine, would you be able to get it open? I have several. I also used to carry one in my glovebox until some women in a hot tub needed it (yes, it sounds like a bad movie, but they didn’t invite me to share the wine). ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/3 "2009-03-15T22:46:05Z")
I’ve got three. Like Batman, I’m prepared. ---
**Author:** ![lucho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac91a4/32.png) [@lucho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucho)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/4 "2009-03-15T22:46:22Z")
Yes, I have a Houdini I got for Christmas one year. It works in a pinch and wine is so much easier to open because of it! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/5 "2009-03-15T22:47:42Z")
There are people who don’t own corkscrews? Not even on a Swiss Army Knife? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/6 "2009-03-15T22:48:17Z")
Of course… doesn’t everyone? I have at least 3 hidden in various places around the kitchen. In a pinch I can usually fine one of them. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/7 "2009-03-15T22:54:53Z")
I’ve got around, er, 40. Do I have a problem? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/8 "2009-03-15T23:01:35Z")
Why yes… yes I do, and yes I would. And? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/9 "2009-03-15T23:10:27Z")
The question came about because I was talking to an old friend and he reminded me of the time I had just moved to a new apartment - his wife had stopped to visit and they had brought some wine. But since I hadn’t unpacked I couldn’t find my cork screw. I went next door and rapped on the neighbor’s door, explained the situation and asked if I could borrow hers. She said she didn’t have one. We all thought that this was strange and decided she just didn’t want to help a neighbor out. Anyway, after being reminded of this, it made me wonder how many people really don’t have one. I know there are people who don’t drink. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/10 "2009-03-15T23:16:16Z")
Oh god yes. Probably about 30 or so, although about 10 of those are mostly decor on the shelves above the wine racks (they’d still get a bottle open though.) The other 20 or so are all over the place, all waiter’s corkscrews - in the kitchen, in the camping box (NOW\*), in my car, in my husband’s truck, in my desk at work, in my purse, in my backpack, you name it. And the Rabbit in the kitchen, which is the one that gets used most often. \*We just got back from a quick weekend camping trip, kind of a prepare for the season and make sure everything is packed and functioning trip. To my surprise, the corkscrew went missing from the little utensil container in our camping box. I must’ve tossed it in my beach bag some time last year, which of course, already has a cork screw, and which I did not bring on this trip. This has been remedied. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/11 "2009-03-15T23:25:31Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I know there are people who don’t drink. Like me. Interestingly, I DO have a corkscrew, but I didn’t even realize it until reading this thread. I WAS going to post that “I don’t drink, so I don’t have one”. Then it occurred to me to go and look, and it turns out I have one; from the design, I think it came as part of a set. Apparently I tossed it in the junk drawer years ago since I have nothing to use it on, then forgot about it until this thread. So if you’d asked me, I might well have said “No, don’t have one” and been wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/12 "2009-03-16T00:14:25Z")
Yeah, I have one. I bought it about a month ago, when I realized that my daughter had taken ours when she moved out. She doesn’t drink wine, but she does cook with it. I tend to drink wine, but I cook with it as well. My usual tipple is beer or tequila or rum, though. I don’t have a Swiss Army knife. I have a Leatherman mini or micro, which doesn’t have one. It does have a toothpick, but that’s not really helpful when one has a bottle of wine to be opened. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/13 "2009-03-16T00:14:47Z")
I don’t drink, but don’t care if my guests do, so yes, I have a corkscrew. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/14 "2009-03-16T00:26:38Z")
I have [one of these](http://www.madcarl.com/corkscrew.gif)… But I use [one of these](http://www.kitchendance.com/cocopuit.html). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/15 "2009-03-16T00:33:15Z")
I don’t drink, I do have a corkscrew, and my minister’s wife (they were also our neighbors) borrowed it because they were moving and had already packed theirs. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/16 "2009-03-16T00:42:43Z")
> [@aaslatten](#): > > I also used to carry one in my glovebox until some women in a hot tub needed it I can’t beat that, so I’ll just say, “Yes.” ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/17 "2009-03-16T00:44:21Z")
Yes, I have a regular corkscrew, and the one on my Swiss Army Knife will work in a pinch, too. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/18 "2009-03-16T00:50:20Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I’ve got three. Like Batman, I’m prepared. If you’re Batman, I must be James Bond. I’ve got bottle openers with attached cork screws in the glove box of all our cars as well as in the toiletry bag of my luggage. But most importantly I have [a rechargeable](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31qrAv%252BmEeL._SL500_AA280_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nscessity-Wine-Essentials-NSRBO22S-Rechargeable-Corkscrew/dp/B000W49QL8&usg=__unWaPnpLj7auS0eah6tnPxYxZWw=&h=280&w=280&sz=6&hl=en&start=1&um=1&tbnid=y62ArjcderIHrM:&tbnh=114&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drechargeable%2Bcorkscrew%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DHbg%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1) model for home use. Works great! ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/19 "2009-03-16T01:05:37Z")
One summer I was in Greece, and we found ourselves on the beach with plenty of wine but no corkscrew. We opened it using only a palm tree. 😃 Basic technique: unwrap the plastic/foil cork covering. Hold the bottle perpendicular to your striking surface. Hit the bottle against the surface firmly and (important!) squarely on the base of the bottle, again and again and again. The pressure will force the cork out until you can remove it by hand. Any vertical surface can be used. If your striking surface is particularly unyielding (such as a marble wall) cushion it with a towel. It takes a while, and you can smash a bottle if you’re not careful. But it beats the alternative, namely, no wine on the beach. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560/20 "2009-03-16T01:20:04Z")
Just used the one I got from the Dollar Store–pulled the cork on some Black Swan Shiraz. Works like a champ. I also have a couple of Swiss Army Knives w/corkscrews, so I’m prepared for most any bottle of wine that comes my way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-own-a-cork-screw/489560.md?page=2)