Why do GAK:s have a corkscrew?

rapax · Dec 19, 2005

Anyone have a clue why German Army Knives (I believe they are Victorinox-made) have a corkscrew? I mean, isn't that a little odd for a knife meant to be used by military personnel? Are German soldiers expected to open wine bottles?

dogrobber · Dec 19, 2005

European troops get wine. Brits and americans get beer rations. It is a very old custom.

cuda01 · Dec 19, 2005

dogrobber said:
European troops get wine. Brits and americans get beer rations. It is a very old custom.

That´s right!

Greetings from Cologne/Germany

cuda01

Steven Andrews · Dec 19, 2005

dogrobber said:
European troops get wine. Brits and americans get beer rations. It is a very old custom.

Ummm. I never saw a beer ration... maybe the infantry were exempt. I wouldn't be surprised.

dunc5 · Dec 20, 2005

Steven Andrews said:
Ummm. I never saw a beer ration... maybe the infantry were exempt. I wouldn't be surprised.

Perhaps they stopped it in world war one

just kidding .Its taken a while to bump into you on here

Dunc

allenC · Dec 26, 2005

You guys are'nt the only ones...
As a US Soldier, I never received beer rations either.

Maybe it is an old custom.

Cheers,
Allen.

ogtam · Dec 30, 2005

The only thing worse than having a corkscrew on a multitool is not having one when you need one. Short of shooting the top off a wine bottle or having one of those gas pump needle affairs, it is just about impossible to get the cork out of a bottle without a corkscrew.

Seriously I have never seen the corkscrew on a SAK being used. Wine drinkers always seem to have a proper corkscrew around. It would be more useful to have a broad flanged screw thread tool which would serve as corkscrew and also to anchor the knife to a tree for hanging or tying up stuff.

LSkylizard · Dec 30, 2005

Steven Andrews said:
Ummm. I never saw a beer ration... maybe the infantry were exempt. I wouldn't be surprised.

I was 11m infantry, I recieved rations for alcohol while stationed in Germany 10 years ago, I can't say if that has changed or not.

drtrech · Jan 6, 2006

I believe the true purpose of the corkscrew is to hold the itsy-bitsy eyeglass screwdriver that Victorinox invented to justify the continued inclusion of the corkscrew.

SpyderNoir_JHA · Jan 7, 2006

If you look into the history of Victorinox, you'll find that two of their current models can be traced back to the "army" aspect of "Swiss Army Knives": the Soldier and the Spartan. The Solider was (and still is) actually issued to soldiers in the Swiss army. Karl Elsener tried (unsuccessfully) to get the Swiss army to adopt another knife, the knife we know today as the Spartan, as standard issue for officers. The difference? The corkscrew. It was intended that the officers should have corkscrews built into their knives. Is the corkscrew practical and relevant this day in age? Well, there is the aforementioned eyeglass screwdriver which fits rather cleverly into the corkscrew. But I believe that the implement still stands on its own merits. While studying in Paris, I found the corkscrew indispensable. Though I'm far from being a serious wine-drinker, I can't imagine anybody who fits that description actually carrying around a dedicated wine-opening device wherever he goes. A Swiss Army Knife, however, is much more likely to be a part of a person's daily gear.

Thirteenth Star · Jan 7, 2006

Aren't millitary personnel supposed to bring thier own wine, for meeting women while marching here and there?

Ineluki · Jan 8, 2006

rapax said:
Are German soldiers expected to open wine bottles?

Sure, next time we invade France

Thirteenth Star · Jan 9, 2006

Ineluki said:
Sure, next time we invade France

Too late; the Muslims have already taken it.

erdiko · May 20, 2015

Corkscrews were originally meant to take out bullets. That is why they are on multi-tool knives.

Piso Mojado · May 20, 2015

erdiko said:
Corkscrews were originally meant to take out bullets. That is why they are on multi-tool knives.

In black powder days, a gun worm was part of every shooter's kit. This one is threaded to screw on the end of a brass ramrod.

The barrel of rifles and muskets fouled quickly with the solid residues produced by burning black powder. A gun worm was used to clean the barrel. The worm is nothing more than one or two twisted tines which can be threaded onto the end of the ram-rod. Wet tow or flax fiber is wound into the worm which is then moved up and down the barrel loosening and removing the solid residues. The process was repeated until the tow or flax fiber remained clean, then clean dry tow or flax fiber was used to dry the interior of the barrel.

http://www.mman.us/wormsrams.htm

The corkscrew may have been inspired by the gun worm, which appears to be an earlier modern invention. (The ancients did not use corks.)

There is also a tool called a ball puller for removing a ball or bullet with a bad powder charge another screw-on for your brass ramrod.

A corkscrew is the tool of choice for untying hard knots in bootlaces, paracord, or any kind of cordage. Of course it also works well with this:

Highly recommended but no more than one a day.

With the end of the Cold War and reunification, Germany moved rapidly to a volunteer career army and finally ended the draft in 2011. Replacing the GAK's corkscrew with a Phillips screwdriver could mean that alcoholism was a bigger military problem in 2003 than in 1976, when the average soldier served four months active duty after two months training.

leghog · May 21, 2015

Steven Andrews said:
Ummm. I never saw a beer ration... maybe the infantry were exempt. I wouldn't be surprised.

allenC said:
You guys are'nt the only ones...
As a US Soldier, I never received beer rations either.

Maybe it is an old custom.

Cheers,
Allen.

Until the Summer of 2014, when the U.S. Navy became dry, if you were aboard a ship at sea for six weeks = rum ration (beer) (or a port call).

Capt. Spaulding · May 21, 2015

I was going to mention it, but looks like I am late to the party. The corkscrew is not exclusively used for opening wine. It has multiple uses just like every single tool on a SAK.

leghog · May 22, 2015

Capt. Spaulding said:
I was going to mention it, but looks like I am late to the party. The corkscrew is not exclusively used for opening wine. It has multiple uses just like every single tool on a SAK.

But let's be honest about it. The SAK corkscrew has one primary purpose, and it's named for it. Not all nations (or their militaries) are/were as prudish as the USA and its military.

znapschatz · May 22, 2015

Piso Mojado said:
In black powder days, a gun worm was part of every shooter's kit. This one is threaded to screw on the end of a brass ramrod.

http://www.mman.us/wormsrams.htm

The corkscrew may have been inspired by the gun worm, which appears to be an earlier modern invention. (The ancients did not use corks.)

There is also a tool called a ball puller for removing a ball or bullet with a bad powder charge another screw-on for your brass ramrod.

Thanks for this! I had always wondered how a ball could be removed if the powder didn't ignite. Seems obvious, now that I think about it, but it still never occurred to me.

Piso Mojado · May 23, 2015

znapschatz said:
I had always wondered how a ball could be removed if the powder didn't ignite.

The best way is to blow it out from the rear by applying a CO₂ discharger through the touch hole.

They had the technology in the 18th century but no one thought of this.

Next best: remove the touch hole liner and go digging with a nipple pick, add more powder, reassemble and see if you can persuade it to fire.

OK it didn't fire. Time for the last resort, and they don't call it a ball puller for nothing.