SAK corkscrew tips?

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Bartleby

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Oct 28, 2005
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Are there any tips out there on how to use the SAK corkscrew most efficiently? Thanks.
 
Remove metallic stuff around the neck of the bottle. Screw corkscrew in cork (almost all the way down). Put bottle between your thighs, hold with one hand and pull the SAK with the other hand. It's as simple as that.
 
I never had much luck with that method; the force required to budge the cork is kinda scary.

Someone recently told me a better way: screw the SAK down until it's actually touching the rim of the bottle on both sides, then "rock" the SAK to start the cork, pulling up on one end, then the other. The idea is, the rim acts as a fulcrum, giving you much more leverage. Once the cork starts to move, breaking the seal, it's a lot easier to pull it out as described above by Zwaplat.
 
Yeah, well, that's another way of course. :)
I just turn the SAK left and right a bit untill the cork starts to give.
One just needs to feel it.
 
Thanks, gents. I will try your suggestions. The tricky part for me is getting the cork started. Using the handle for leverage, I sometimes end up bending the liners.
 
Hope I can explain this OK, I had to have it shown to me to understand how it works. Using this method, I seem to have much more control and a lower chance of spillage.

Screw the corkscrew allmost all the way into the cork. Then, grab the neck of the bottle in one hand. Put the hand holding the bottle behind your knee, grab your knife with the other hand. At this point you are sorta crouched down a bit, with both wrists on the outside of you knees, holding the bottle in one hand and the SAK in the other. Now just slowly move you knees apart. The cork comes out of the bottle nice and slow and you won't waste any wine.:D

Bruceter
 
I use a slightly different technique. Instead of the thighs, I hold the bottle between the feet with shoes on, of course. The soles of my shoes provide a much better traction than say, the cloth of the pants.

The rocking technique mentioned is a bit dubious, IMO. It can possibly crumble the cork to the point of destruction and what you will have is undesirable pieces of cork floating in your wine.
 
bama_lou said:
The rocking technique mentioned is a bit dubious, IMO. It can possibly crumble the cork to the point of destruction and what you will have is undesirable pieces of cork floating in your wine.
Click to expand...

If the cork disintegrates with this technique, it would have done so with any. Try it. Experience trumps speculation.
 
I found a combination of things mentioned that have helped. I find that if you screw the corkscrew in until it reaches the flat shoulder of the tang (you can do this b/c the threaded portion is short, a regular corkscrew will punch through the cork), grab the neck in the left hand (assuming you're right handed) with the bottle on a table. Turn the corkscrew to tighten while pulling with the right hand. The turning while tightening breaks the seal. I haven't run into a really tough cork doing this yet, but if I do, I'll place the bottle lower to get more leverage. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
I practiced on three bottles, the first came out easy, the second one was tougher to thread in, by the third I couldn't find my corkscrew.
 
I drink wine every day, I've tried many ways to use the SAK corkscrew and I just don't feel comfortable with any, I often carry a waiters corkscrew.

With the SAK what works best for me is similar to what Gryffin suggests: screw in deep and rock to start the cork out. Then I try to put something (such as the handle of a spoon or whatever is handy) between the bottle neck and the SAK to use as a fulcrum and keep levering, then if necessary use something larger and keep going until it is easy to just pull out the cork.

Luis
 
Don Luis, thanks for adding your method to the mix. I agree that almost any corkscrew that offers additional leverage will work better than the SAK version, just as any purpose built tool--screw driver, can opener etc.-- will work better than a folding tool. I think that the corkscrew is perhaps the most difficult SAK implement to use well.
 
Be careful with using the neck of a winebottle as a pressure point for leverage. I've seen them break with less force than you guys put on them with your techniques.:rolleyes:
 
I'm with bama_lou: I screw the corkscrew deep into the cork, sit down in a chair and rest the base of the bottle on the floor between my feet. From this position, pulling the cork out is pretty simple.
 
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