"Pete Zahut" wrote in message
...
would this work http://www.wimp.com/wineshoe

It's a video of someone removing a cork from a wine bottle using a shoe.
The cork comes out of the bottle but I don't see how - although I'm not
the world's greatest physicist, of course :-) IMHO the cork, if it
moves at all, should go inside the bottle because (and this is the bit
that justifies it being in a DIY group) it would seem to be the same
principle as putting a hammer head on a shaft, ie, shaft and head
travelling downwards, shaft stops, head carries on downwards and fits
snugly on shaft. Wine bottle and cork travelling in same direction, bottle
stops, cork should continue same way as the bottle, not go in the opposite
direction - shouldn't it?
Not really my subject - never could handle the equations in physics - but it
looks to me as if others have missed what might be the effect of the taper
of the normal bottle shape. Like a stiletto heel concentrates body weight
into a tremendous force on a small area, hitting the wider area at the
bottom of the bottle, I would imagine results in the force being
considerably magnified by the bottle taper by the time it hits the cork.

Problem of course, with this method, is that corks tend to be used on older
wines that are likely to have sediment, so the last thing you want to do is
hit the bottom on a wall. If it's a home stored wine and the bottle has
been on its side so as to keep the cork moist, there will be a layer of
sediment all down the side which will make a right old mess after any
thumping. But on the other hand home brewing corks are usually rubbish and
will not have been airtight anyway...

Good bottles have both the capacity and the safe pressure in mm moulded
around the bottom. Go for 80mm and above (Anything that has had fizz in
should be safe.) if you are reusing the bottles for home brew, and stick to
screw caps, except on the odd bottle you want to make a show of.

The standard party method of dealing with lack of cork screws, was the
wooden spoon handle or very strong finger method, to push the cork in rather
than out. A tea spoon then holding the cork out of the way for the initial
pouring. More stylish was the excellent 'corkette' in the pocket, 'just in
case'. Shame that my one stopped pumping eventually, and they don't seem to
make them any mo too dangerous I suppose.

S