The worthless bottle opener

My wife and I were at an outdoor wedding reception Saturday night and due to the storms moving through the midwest, all the food and beverage tents had to be relocated. Somehow, the bottle opener(s) got lost in the fray and here's all these thirsty guests with coolers and coolers of beer but no opener.

Note to self: It's OK to take my church-going knife (Peanut) to a wedding and reception, but take a SAK Cadet too - just in case.
 
I found that mine is also useful for lifting cross threaded lids. Used it the other day to lift a cross threaded lid on a pellet tin. It damaged the lid slightly, but "ya gotta do what ya gotta do" as they say. Never thought I'd use it for that.
 
I use the bottle opener and the corkscrew of my Vic Spartan almost exclusively. I rarely use the blades (why does it have TWO??), but a saw/file and scissors would be perfect for my needs.
Combined with seperate quality pliers in a sheath, it might turn out to be lighter and more useful to me, than my Leatherman Wave.
 
GarageBoy said:
You mean you guys don't use the handle itself as a bottle opener?
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Bingo! The end of a multi-tool or knife usually works just fine. Or the end of a spoon or fork handle or whatever tool's handy. Flat head screwdrivers work very well; the bigger the better. Hold the bottle neck really tight, right up at the cap. Place the screwdriver end under the lip of the bottle cap, use your second knuckle as the fulcrum, and push down on the screwdriver handle. You have to hold the bottle really tight, squeezing your finger muscles, to make the knuckle a solid fulcrum.

The end of a spoon or fork is used the same way, and it's easier on your knuckle than a screwdriver.

Many years ago, someone in a work crew I was with, said there's a bottle opener on every piece of equipment. We used to have fun finding those openers at the end of a shift, on engines, truck door latches, wherever. Even the end of 2X4 or edge of a table can sometimes work: Put the bottle cap lip right on the edge, hold the bottle up high on the neck, and whack down on the outside edge of the bottle cap, with the heel of your hand....careful with that one; slight risk of breaking the bottle!
 
here in the philippines most sodas come still in glass and with bottlecaps. so my bottle opener gets a lot of action. i dont say its wasted space on my Vic. but, if most vics didnt have bottle openers, it wouldnt be too bad with me. maybe just a handful of models. especially considering most of their customers are folks in the western world where bottles with caps hardly exist. even if they do, most caps are twist-off nowadays if i remember right
 
I always get SAKs with a corkscrew, bottle opener, and a can opener. I use the bottle opener the most, for bottles and as a light pry bar. If I need either of the other 2, it is because I suddenly NEED one of them. As far as I am concerned it is far better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them. Nothing worse than being in the middle of cooking, and discovering that one of the kids has made off with the corkscrew to play with. For some reason it seems to fascinate them. Same with the can opener. I always have a SAK stashed in the kitchen drawers, so I can grab that and keep going instead of wasting time looking for whatever in with the playdough toys, the kitchen playset upstairs, under the TV stand, in dog's kennel, or in the freezer.

-Mb
 
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