And I have just the solution:
One of the problems I have w/ corkscrews is getting them started evenly/straight into the cork. The tip comes in at an angle of the screw, so you have to start it w/ a small offset towards the side to drive it into the cork straight.
The original plastic ScrewPull seems to be the best corkscrew for driving the corkscrew in straight. You just hold the two prongs tight against the lip & start twisting. My new ChefMan electric corkscrew has enough play (so it can deal w/ wide-lipped btls like Turley) that it often starts into to cork at a cockeyed angle & makes the corkscrew struggle as the cork rubs against the side of the barrel.
So my solution: Instead of the corkscrew tip coming in at an angle, why can’t you modify the tip w/ a slight offset and a short (maybe 1/4th ") straight/vertical segment that aligns perfectly w/ the axis of the center of the screw?? Does that make sense, if you understand what I’m getting at? A drawing would probably help to explain.
I’ve never seen a corkscrew screw that looks like that. And it would probably increase the production cost to add that little fillip to the end of the screw.
Whose with me on leaning on the corkscrew manufacturers?? I’ll be glad to lead the charge.
Tom
I’m with you on that one, Tom. I have the same problem with my otherwise reliable electric opener. And while you’re at the redesign, perhaps make the vertical tip out of carbide steel that would stay sharp?
(Before some youngster says get a waiter’s corkscrew, many of us older folks have arthritis issues and the electric openers make it a lot easier to get into the bottle.)
It has a sharp spiral wrapped around a vertical axis, which means you can go straight down with it, as opposed to the helix that requires you to go at an angle
This is a fine and most overdue idea. Generally, I believe the approach one tries to follow, at least subconsciously, is to overcome the temptation to aim the tip of the worm at the cork and instead try to grip the worm in a manner that you can form a rough mental estimate of how the outer bounds of the worm align with the inner bounds of the bottle rim, in a fashion somewhat akin to attempting to Use the Force to make that one-in-a-million shot into the Death Star - sort of a manual (quite literally) Screwpull formation - and then again overcoming the temptation to realign the worm when its tip pierces the cork invariably in some location other than the center, then remaining attentive for any indication that one is not precisely centered through the first few cycles of the twist during which it is still possible to realign the worm at least by a few degrees by nudging it in the proper direction through sheer brute force and obtain confirmation of the successful operation only whence the cork is extracted with no cracks in the lateral surface. Your proposal sounds simpler.
The tip of the screw is not at the center of the spiral. It’s like throwing a pass in football, you don’t throw it to the current location of the receiver if he’s moving.
There’s a reason you’ve never seen a helical corkscrew with a “straight” section, imo.
A traditional helical corkscrew’s point/tip pierces the cork at a single point and as the corkscrew is turned the worm passes through that same single point, which is also true for any point through which the worm passes up and down the length of the cork.
If one manufactured a worm with a “straight” section at the tip, this would no longer merely Pierce a hole the size of the worm’s diameter, but cut a 1/4” long helix down the center of the cork’s entire length.
This cutting action would require significantly more effort to drive the corkscrew than a single-point piecing action. Additionally the helical cut (as opposed to the piercing) would significantly weaken the cork along this cylindrical channel, increasing the likelihood of ripping apart the cork during retraction.
I was a cyclist long before I got into wine. When I did get into wine, one of the first things I bought (or put on my Christmas list) was a Campy corkscrew. That thing is probably about 15 years old at this point, and I have never wanted for another corkscrew. Seriously, other than a cheap portable waiter’s corkscrew, it’s the only one I have ever owned. And it has never once failed me. Now, granted, I am not opening 30, 40 or 50 year old bottles, but for my 20 year old and less bottles, it works perfectly every single time.
Just ask Alfert. That man owns hundreds of corkscrews, and he loves his Campy.
![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
