# Want to remove a cork without getting a hole in it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054 "2010-08-30T22:52:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/1 "2010-08-30T22:52:01Z")
I have the secret for removing the cork from a bottle of wine without using any tools, and without making a hole of any kind in the cork. Give it your best guess on how I achieved this miraculous act, and I’ll give the answer in an hour or so…or maybe after ten guesses, whichever comes first. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/2 "2010-08-30T22:54:12Z")
Oooh, oooh! Did you drop the bottle and it smashed to bits? ---
**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:** [August 30, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/3 "2010-08-30T23:02:09Z")
Alternatively, you froze the bottle and the wine forced the cork out. Or maybe you are Willie Nelson’s kind of girl. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/4 "2010-08-30T23:02:23Z")
Push it into the bottle. Heat the bottle until it blows out. Hold the bottle by the bottom and swing it around in a circle until centrifugal force pulls it out. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/5 "2010-08-30T23:04:07Z")
The bottle is completely intact. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/6 "2010-08-30T23:07:04Z")
Is it this [method?](http://www.ehow.com/video_2116279_remove-wine-cork-tools.html) ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/7 "2010-08-30T23:11:39Z")
What an interesting, and noisy, method! But no… ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/8 "2010-08-30T23:22:00Z")
This type of tool does it without making a hole in the cork: [http://www.winestuff.com/acatalog/w1162.jpg](http://www.winestuff.com/acatalog/w1162.jpg) (yeah, I know, you said no tools) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/9 "2010-08-30T23:33:56Z")
Here’s one [method](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c0hSGDtIqQ). ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/10 "2010-08-30T23:56:00Z")
If you sucked it out, I want video. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/11 "2010-08-31T00:15:31Z")
I know of two methods. One which requires whacking it with a shoe. Another which requires whacking the bottle against a tree or other hard surface. ETA: It seems **Tripolar** and **Tim R. Mortiss** have linked to those methods. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/12 "2010-08-31T00:17:42Z")
Time! I did not suck it out…naughty boy! Simply leave the bottle of wine in the trunk of your car on a 90 degree day. Park the car in the sun. At about 6 pm, take your car for a drive (to deliver said bottle of wine) being sure to hit several potholes on the way. When you arrive (driving time 7 minutes) you bottle will have opened itself! It would have been prudent to have the bottle upright…the “laying on its side” method I used resulted in soaked carpeting and particle-board wheelwell cover, and an hour of hosing down…and only one glass left in the magnum of Cabernet Sauvignon. But the cork and the foil are pristine! ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/13 "2010-08-31T00:33:04Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Here’s one [method](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c0hSGDtIqQ). I discovered this when experimenting with trash bags as parachutes on water bottles. From what I can tell the more curved the base of the container, the more likely the top will blow out from the shock-wave. If you drop such a water bottle it will core the center of the cap out leaving the rest of the cap securely screwed on. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/14 "2010-08-31T01:15:39Z")
Um, yeah, you’re method is way better. It’s easier because you only need a car on a hot day and time to drive somewhere over potholes. But who could find a towel? ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/15 "2010-08-31T01:35:22Z")
Wish there had been a towel back there. Those plastic grocery gags from Ikea aren’t leakproof. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/16 "2010-08-31T02:09:23Z")
Without doing anything especially exotic, you can use an ah-so style bottle opener ([http://www.winestuff.com/acatalog/AH\_\_\_SO\_Cork\_Puller\_Double\_Prong.html](http://www.winestuff.com/acatalog/AH___SO_Cork_Puller_Double_Prong.html)) to remove corks without damaging them. They’re commonly used for extremely old bottles of wine where there’s fear of a corkscrew crumbling bits of cork into the wine. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/17 "2010-08-31T02:37:06Z")
How about using a vacuum, in a bell jar for example? Would that do it? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/18 "2010-08-31T02:53:34Z")
It seems all the videos for whacking it so the cork creeps out say to hit it on a vertical surface. Anyone know why? Seems to me that the effect of gravity is minuscule, and horizontal whackable surfaces are generally easier to find than vertical ones. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/19 "2010-08-31T02:54:27Z")
How does a car _not_ qualify as a tool?! ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-remove-a-cork-without-getting-a-hole-in-it/552054/20 "2010-08-31T04:00:31Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Time! I did not suck it out…naughty boy! > > Simply leave the bottle of wine in the trunk of your car on a 90 degree day. Park the car in the sun. At about 6 pm, take your car for a drive (to deliver said bottle of wine) being sure to hit several potholes on the way. When you arrive (driving time 7 minutes) you bottle will have opened itself! It would have been prudent to have the bottle upright…the “laying on its side” method I used resulted in soaked carpeting and particle-board wheelwell cover, and an hour of hosing down…and only one glass left in the magnum of Cabernet Sauvignon. But the cork and the foil are pristine! It’s a good thing you didn’t wind up delivering it. After a day in the trunk in the sun in 90 degree weather you wouldn’t be able to tell Chateau Rothschild from Two Buck Chuck.