This all seems terribly involved..
I have two techniques
1) When using a frame corkscrew on a frail bottle, and want to break the adhesion between the cork and the glass, I wind in the corkscrew until it starts to tighten and then wind it back half a turn. I then hit the top with the palm of my hand to jolt the cork down a fraction. After that I pull the cork straight out, as the winding action of the corkscrew tends to twist the cork in half.
2) When pushing in a cork to preserve it for examination, my first tool of choice is the blunt tend of a chopstick. If the top of the cork is very soft and the chopstick is pushing into the cork rather than pushing the cork down, I switch to the handle of a wooden spoon.
A simple purpose engineered solution might be a short 25mm diameter acetal rod, machined down at each end to a slightly different diameter, perhaps 15mm and 17mm, and for a depth of maybe 20mm, aided by a small mallet. The most appropriate end can then be selected for use.
A cork pusher
- uncle tom
- Dalva Golden White Colheita 1952
- Posts: 3519
- Joined: 23:43 Wed 20 Jun 2007
- Location: Near Saffron Walden, England
Re: A cork pusher
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be ugly - W.S. Churchill
- SushiNorth
- Martinez 1985
- Posts: 1341
- Joined: 07:45 Mon 18 Feb 2008
- Location: NJ & NY
Re: A cork pusher
Thinking about Uncle Tom's comments, and the ideas about solid rods, and that post with a picture of a thick but hollow nut....
We need an alternative to the Durand. Instead of an Ah-So that the screw goes down through, we need a tube just slightly smaller than the diameter of the bottle that sticks up, and which we can subsequently press upon.
Approach A:
Step 1 - place the tube.
Step 2 - wind the screw pull down into the cork
Step 3 - push down on the tube without losing the cork into the bottle (its held by the screwpull)
Step 4 - Pull straight up with the screw pull.
Approach B:
Step 1 - wind the screw pull down into the cork
Step 2 - apply two halves of a tube around the screw pull
Step 3 - push down on the tube without losing the cork into the bottle (its held by the screwpull)
Step 4 - Pull straight up with the screw pull.
Tom, btw, the hand screwpull i've been using for a while (a tough extra long gem ~100 yrs old), allows for a straight pull up and I have lost very few old corks when using it. Its much harder to use on young corks, but they hold together better.
We need an alternative to the Durand. Instead of an Ah-So that the screw goes down through, we need a tube just slightly smaller than the diameter of the bottle that sticks up, and which we can subsequently press upon.
Approach A:
Step 1 - place the tube.
Step 2 - wind the screw pull down into the cork
Step 3 - push down on the tube without losing the cork into the bottle (its held by the screwpull)
Step 4 - Pull straight up with the screw pull.
Approach B:
Step 1 - wind the screw pull down into the cork
Step 2 - apply two halves of a tube around the screw pull
Step 3 - push down on the tube without losing the cork into the bottle (its held by the screwpull)
Step 4 - Pull straight up with the screw pull.
Tom, btw, the hand screwpull i've been using for a while (a tough extra long gem ~100 yrs old), allows for a straight pull up and I have lost very few old corks when using it. Its much harder to use on young corks, but they hold together better.