corkscrew

The Laguoile 3004 has a serrated blade, too. But as I almost always tear off the entire capsule (most of our tastings are done blind), I rather seldom need the blade, the tip is sharp enough to do its work.

M.

Hmmm. I tried the pulltap quite often (I happen to have three or four hanging around somewhere in the house), but really fell more "à l'aise" with the geometry of my Lagiole, the upstroke being slightly longer than with the two-step waiters friend, and I find the tines of the Laguiole holding much better to the edge of the bottle. But ymmv, of course.

M.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Thread says it: "waiters friend".

M.

I agree that using a well made implement has an innate reward, and you have a point - geometry will vary and there is no reason, I suppose, that a single stroke screw couldn't be adequate for almost all corks.

I guess the ideal might be a two-step Laguiole, but I don't believe they've offered that yet.

The whole Laguiole thing puts me in mind of pens. Some people like owning a particular sort of pen for the presumed prestige it offers - yuppie toys. Other people may value the same thing more from the functional point of view.

I own and use a couple of beautifully made Mont Blanc fountain pens (you have to do something with all those gold card points and a man only needs so many toasters), and I enjoy writing with them - I've been using fountain pens since high school. I see people with Mont Blanc ball points, and I can't help thinking that they could only want what is in essence a fancy cover for a generic ballpoint refill for yuppie bragging reasons, as there is little functional reason to prefer such a pen.

The Laguile corkscrews are an intermediate case. The workmanship is admirable and they are worth some appreciation as objets d'art, but they also function (old crumbly corks aside for the moment) exceedingly well.

It makes me a bit nervous however when I see the yuppie wine fans pulling their high end Laguioles from their custom leather cases in which they carry them everywhere, never wanting to miss an opportunity to impress each other.

I suppose that I should not allow the fact that some people do that to influence me or tempt me to class them in with other useless yuppie flash, as they are really much more like a Mont Blanc fountain pen than a Mont Blanc ballpoint......

Good point, point taken. But I insist on the fact that for me it's my tool, that I don't need to impress anyone anymore.

Anyhow, here in Europe, I have never seen anyone using a Laguiole for yuppie reasons. In fact, quite more often are the cases some quart- or semi-professional waitperson fights against a tightly fitting (or poor, disintegrating) cork with an unfit tool.

Exactly.

M.

Well, I am embarrassed to say that I am fascinated with them. The laguioles. I bought a set of steak knives in Beaune that were indeed expensive. They were surgical quality. We bought 2 boxes of 6 ea.

Then I bought several wine openers.

Lets face the truth. I did not need them. I did it for the same reason men do everything. When I bought the steak knives for an anniversary 5 years ago my wife gave me that special thank you.:-)

I kept buying more and more cork openers looking for the same effect. What I did not connect was it was the wine she was drinking that really put her in the mood.

Since this is a non commercial group I will not put my not needed laguiole 5 that I own plus a picnic knife up for sale. I do enjoy them and they really do perform better than any waiters tool I have ever used.

Like Rabbi Chris Rock said "If men can screw in a trailer they wouldn't bother to buy a house."

Enjoy

Pretentious Dick

Addendum: My wife calls me the cork dork.

Secondly: There is a historical interest in these pieces of usable art. The ones I bought were made in the same village by the same family line that made Napoleons swords.

I think these are my Waterloo.

Well, this thread has taken an interesting turn! Exactly which "thank you" did you get?

Since the thread is indeed G Rated you will have to use the ole imagination.

Ahem - I believe he is alluding to the fact that the cork wasn't the only thing that got......well you get the picture.

BTW - do they make a left handed thread corkscrew for lefties? Presumably a left hand spiral would be more comfortable for those with sinister tendencies to wind into a cork widdershins?

Funny you should ask that since I am a lefty. The answer when I asked was.....NO.

Quite a few, actually,,,

pavane

But not Laguiole for Chateau Laguiole.

Can't you simply turn the bottle upside-down and insert the (previously) right-handed Laguiole into the cork pointing upwards with your left hand, thus creating a left-handed Laguiole??

This seems an easy enough solution, eh?

pavane

That is my secret...thats exactly what I do. Thanks for telling everyone:-)

Wait....what about sediment? & doesn't wine spill all over the place when you pull the cork on that upsidown bottle?

next week I'm studying rocket science Mathew

"pavane" skrev i melding news:l1Upc.34421$ snipped-for-privacy@twister.tampabay.rr.com...

I'm lefthanded and see absolutely no problem in holding the bottle with my right hand, inserting the corkscrew with my left and screwing it in clockwise, still with the left hand, then pulling the cork and finally pouring the wine using my left hand. So, what's the problem? Anders

You have to do it quickly.

Keeps the cork most right until open too :-)