Do you own a cork screw?

[Johnny_L.A]

@GameHat

a pair of channel-locks

Which I use more in the kitchen than for anything else.

[flodnak]

We have a doohickey with the name of what appears to be a Danish liquor store printed on it. It contains a corkscrew, two different kinds of bottle openers, and a small knife for cutting off neckbands. Whatever your drink-opening needs, this handy pocket took has you covered!

[Half_Man_Half_Wit]

@Hello_Again

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.

Using a shoe with a sufficiently firm sole works, too. But I do have a corkscrew, I don’t always wear shoes in the house.

[Ferret_Herder]

Several! One in the glove compartment (simple portable one, bought after a weekend getaway trip where we bought a bottle of wine to bring back to the hotel room and had no corkscrew). At home, we have probably 3 “waiter’s friend” style, one of those with the arms, and a Rabbit version. Plus one where you plunge a long needle into the cork and then push a button to fire CO2 into the bottle and push the cork out. Oh, and one on a Swiss Army Knife.

[StGermain]

I’m the first! No, I don’t own a corkscrew. I don’t drink and I’ve never seen a reason to buy one. The one time I had friends over and they brought wine, my first thought was to use my power drill and then pull up. It didn’t work so well. Then I went to my neighbors and borrowed theirs.

StG

[glee]

I may not have a corkscrew. :eek::smack:

Because I don’t drink wine and champagne comes with an easy to open cork.

However I may have a corkscrew.
Because my Mum (bless her) used to occasionally put odd things into my cupboards ‘just in case’.
The other day I found a Wok, even though I only know how to cook omelettes.

[Khadaji]

@Hello_Again

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.

Here is a video of the technique. You Tube Link

[sugar_and_spice]

I have one. But I do remember when I was a few years out of college I had to go to the neighbor and borrow hers for a party, so I was sans corkscrew for a while.

Because my Mum (bless her) used to occasionally put odd things into my cupboards ‘just in case’.
The other day I found a Wok, even though I only know how to cook omelettes.

mine does that too. As a result I own a sewing machine, a blender, and a power drill. I have used the sewing machine.

[MeanOldLady]

@El_Kabong

I’ve got three. Like Batman, I’m prepared.

Perfect within two responses.

I own two. I also own three metal flasks, two regular sized shakers, a mini-shaker for portable drinking, stirrers, a globe bar, and I always, ALWAYS, keep bitters on hand.

[AskNott]

Of course I have a corkscrew! What kind of a Tanglevetzian do you take me for?

[Tracy_Lord]

I have at least three times saved late-night train rides home from sessions with the corkscrew/bottle opener I keep in my fiddle case. You would think that my layabout musician friends would have learned to carry their own by now, but, no. Slackers.

[New_Beginning]

@Khadaji

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.

Funnily enough I’ve been in a bizarre inverse of that situation. I was helping my friend move into her new apt in a big apartment building. As we were walking up the stairs for the 100th time (4th story, tons of heavy boxes and no A/C… fun times) we were stopped by a frazzled guy in his 20’s who wanted to know if we had a corkscrew. Of course we didn’t since we hadn’t unpacked anything… For a bit of the rest of the move I saw him knocking on doors asking neighbors for help. I got a peak into his own apartment as well where I saw (presumably) his (equally frazzled) date peaking out and watching him try to find it.

If I really didn’t have a corkscrew though, I’d just screw a normal screw into the cork and pull it out with some pliers. As it is I own 3.

[gigi]

I have a Leatherman with one, but the one in the house is this cheapo kind:

http://www.accentamenities.com/images/thumbnail/white-cork-screw1.gif

[Quartz]

@Tapioca_Dextrin

I’ve got around, er, 40. Do I have a problem?

Okay, I’ll bite. Do you collect them? Got any particularly interesting ones?

[The_Devil_s_Grandmother]

@Lynn_Bodoni

Does the average person* encounter corked bottles that don’t contain wine? My daughter doesn’t drink alcohol (she doesn’t like the way it tastes) and if she didn’t cook with wine, she wouldn’t have or use a corkscrew.

There are a few types of beer that might come corked, but other than that I can’t think of anything.

[Sir_Not_Appearing_on_This_Site]

I don’t drink, and I don’t own a cork screw, that I know of…

I have a few swiss army knives, and I know none of them have cork screw. I also have a leatherman type tool, it might have one, but I have seen that for years, and have no idea where it is.

I should probably pick one up for the rare occasion that someone comes over and brings a bottle of wine.

[Mtgman]

I don’t drink, thus I don’t own a corkscrew as a stand-alone device. I own several Swiss Army Knives(at least three) which all have corkscrews.

My wife drinks occasionally, but typically wine coolers or beverage wines(which have screw on caps). She called me from a party with her cousins a few weeks ago(most of which drink, but who drink beer or wine coolers typically) because they didn’t have a corkscrew and one of the guests had brought wine which was corked. They ended up using the screw and pliers solution, but it highlighted how ubiquitous corkscrews are that everyone just assumes there will be one pretty much everywhere. Indeed, even in my house, where very little alcohol is consumed, we could open a corked bottle of wine.

Enjoy,
Steven

[bat312]

Just counted…I have 10. I generally drink beer, but I guest I am ready if you want to bring me some wine.

[TV_time]

We moved recently and I am still finding cork screws. I think we are currently at 10or 11. Many of them are from friends who have come to our place over the years with a bottle of wine, friendship and cork screw.

I am not sure what it says about us. Do people consider us winos? Do people consider us incompetent winos unable to open a bottle on our own? Anyway, we are awash in cork screws, some of them quite inovative.

[Kalhoun]

Of course. It’s the “fourth” eating utensil.