Pocket knives with corkscrew?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Wondering why being able to open a bottle of wine is a priority when camping, I found this diagram of Swiss Army Knife accessories, one of which (3b) shows a corkscrew being used somehow in connection with knots. Untying? Are corkscrews especially useful for undoing jammed knots?

On a broader topic, of all the pocket knife or multitool accessories available, in your experience which have been the most useful in camping situations? If you had to pick eight accessories for your customized knife?

2

One model of the Victorinox Swiss Army Knife comes with a teensy little screwdriver that fits nicely inside the corkscrew. So the corkscrew is useful…as a screwdriver holder!

3

I’m sure this’ll end up in IMHO once the factual question is answered. Regardless, I’ve got a Leatherman, and the most used tools in “camping” situations, in order of usage, are:

  1. Serrated knife blade. This only gets used because it’s there, and I could get by without it. But using serrated blade for rough jobs means I can keep the straight blade razor sharp for when it’s needed. Probably use this half a dozen times every day.
  2. Pliers. Used for everything: tightening nuts, undoing knots, tying wire, pulling stakes out of tyres, lifting pots off the fire etc. Indespensible.
  3. Flat head screwdriver. Not just used on screws, this also functions as the default pry bar for light work like prying batteries out of equipment, for scraping dirt off stuff, for pushing wadding into cracks etc.
  4. Straight knife blade. As noted above, only used for jobs that need a razor sharp blade, so not all the commonly used, but essential to have.
  5. Other screwdrivers. My Leatherman comes with about a dozen detachable screwdriver, hex wrench etc. bits. By default I keep a Phillips head bit in there, but a knife with an assortment of bits is a fantastic idea.
  6. Saw. I never thought I’d use this, but the knife I wanted came with it. But it gets used surprisingly often now I have it. I could live without it, but it makes life a little easier.
  7. File. I use mine to file my nails on long trips (nails I trim with the knife). It also gets used for jobs like burring bolt ends or thinning out wire that is too big for the wire cutters.
  8. Wire cutters. Rarely used but useful when you really need it. Combined with the file, you can cut suprisingly heavy gauge wire.
  9. Tweezers. Rarely used, but indespensible when needed.
  10. Can opener. Used it once I think, but I travel with a real can opener. If you are hiking and weight is an issue, probably more useful.
4

Maybe the corkscrew was there for the ethnic-French and -Italian soldiers in the Swiss Army. :wink:

I’ve never been all that hot on camping, but of the Swiss Army knives I’ve had, I’d say the bottle opener, scissors and toothpick were most useful. Don’t think I could name eight that were handy for me.

EDIT: And the tweezers, as I’m suddenly reminded by the post above mine.

5

I don’t think it’s a corkscrew, specifically, as it is just something skinny and pointy that you can stick into the center of the knot to wedge it apart. The only nice the about it being a corkscrew is that if you can get the end in there, you might be able to hook it a bit and pull on the string. That would be an advantage over one of the straight tools.

6

I have one of those knives, I’ve been carrying it for the past 12 years or so.

I’ll tell you from experience that the corkscrew is horrible for pulling a cork out of a bottle. :frowning:

But it has come in handy in other ways. Undoing a knot, yes. But for an actual bottle cork it usually shreds a cork to pieces trying to get it out. Fishing little bits of cork out of your wine is not fun.

7

The previous diagram, 3a, shows it as a corkscrew.

8

But I always end up fishing out little bits of cork even when I use a regular corkscrew. I just wasn’t meant to use those things. his shows the superiority of wine in bottle with screw-off caps, plus they have the added advantage of conforming better to plain brown bags.

9

Given the position of the item, you get a phillips head if you order the super tinker, or the corkscrew.

I think I’ve actually used the corkscrew a couple of times. It is difficult to use, but sometimes there isn’t a better alternative.
The Super Tinker is a decent knife. It has everything I want (except maybe the corkscrew) but nothing else. The saw gets surprisingly little use so I do without it. The scissors are worth having. Admittedly I’m discussing general purpose more than camping.

10

I knew I wasn’t saying that clearly. I mean, I don’t think there’s anything special about using a corkscrew to untie a knot. I keep a set of these in my tool bag (and they come in really handy at the oddest times). They would also work for untying a knot. It’s just that you have a corkscrew right there and as far as tools on the SAK, that’s probably the best one for that job.

11

When you have a bottle of wine in the woods, opening it properly becomes a priority. The Swiss-knife corkscrews work just fine if you do it with care and authority.

12

Since the OP is asking for personal experiences, let’s move this to IMHO.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

13

It’s for untying tough knots:

14

I use the corkscrew, as a corkscrew, all the damn time, and have never had a problem with it pulling corks. You’ll be amazed how often I’ll be at a picnic or party and someone plaintively asks “Does anyone have a corkscrew?” and I get to be the BDH. It’s also my default corkscrew to use at home, because I always have it on me and the Waiter’s Friend is all the damn way over there in the drawer…

As for 8 most useful, I’d say:
little scissors
big knife
bottle opener
can opener
corkscrew
tweezers
woodsaw
awl (this is more useful for knots, IMO. Works as a teeny fid too)

I use everything on my Victorinox (Camper model, 13 function) even the hook for carrying shopping bags.

You’ll notice I didn’t put “pliers” in my list - because I hate multitool pliers and would much rather use a real one.

15

I’ve seen the corkscrew unscrew on a cheap knife. Much like the can opener is often for show and unusable.

16

Best tool for untying knots is a marlinspike, Which often comes as part of a rigging knife which is pretty sailor-specific.

ETA: the marlin (fish) was named after the marlinspike (tool), not viceversa.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=marlin

17

I was always told that the spike was for digging stones out of horses hooves.

18

Back when I traveled extensively and before the world went nuts, I carried a Swiss Army Knife in my carry-on bag. Most hotels I stayed at didn’t have corkscrews in the rooms, so it came in very handy, along with many of the other tools.

19

I don’t think Swiss Army Knives (or any multi-tool) is specifically for camping. It’s for many situations and many different kinds of people. And in Europe especially I would expect wine bottles or similar to be widespread. Corks were stoppers for all kinds of different containers at one time.

20

Ah, man. One time in Los Angeles in the 1990s, the wife picked up a really nice Swiss Army knife from an actual Swiss Army knife shop, one of those shops lining the way outside the Universal Studios theme park. A really, really nice knife. Fast-forward to 2010, we’re in Vietnam, and we’re about to board a flight from Danang to Ho Chi Minh City. Guess what she had inadvertently put in her carry-on bag? You got it. In vain I tried to get them to let us go back and put it in the checked-in bags, but you can imagine how that went. And the little security guy who caught the knife, his eyes lit up, and it went right into his pocket. Quite a treasure for him that day. The wife was pissed off.

But she picked up another one in the MoMA shop across the street from the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan two years later. Not quite as nice, but it has a unique wooden casing.