The shortcomings of the Leatherman

[garethw]

I've been a Leatherman fan now for many years, and have owned three of these marvelous tools. In fact one usually sits on my belt at all times out here in the countryside of eastern France (unless I'm going into Paris, when I don't carry a sharp at all).
But as good and strong and useful as it is, it has one huge shortcoming for those of us that live in this country....NO CORK SCREW!!!
So I have to have a SAK to hand or a small cheap corkscrew in my pack when I'm out camping and fishing.
I guess they don't have much wine in Oregan.
Cheers
Gareth

 

[lab72]

The flair had a corkscrew on it but its been discountued

 

[The Big Lebowski]

Its in French... But you get the idea

e.g horizontal bottle with padding on bottom. tap, tap.... plonk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGfjtBffiE

 

[garethw]

Its in French... But you get the idea

e.g horizontal bottle with padding on bottom. tap, tap.... plonk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGfjtBffiE

LOL!! Pas de problème with the French, been here 25 years.!!
Never seen that before, I'd be worried that my last or expensive bottle would explode and douse me in vin rouge.
I have on occasion pushed the cork into the bottle with a SAK if it breaks and a corkscrew won't work.
cheers
Gareth

 

[Laurentius]

Leatherman Juice has a corkscrew, http://www.leathermans.co.uk/Leatherman-XE6.html
(no connection to retailer)

 

[slasha9]

Good video! Two things spring to mind, first I have just invested in a Leatherman Juice (I got the XE6) mainly because of the EDC issue in the UK of locking blades so I now (accidentally) own a Leatherman with a corkscrew.I can highly recommend the Juice by the way, good thing in a small package) Second, I know that the lack of a corkscrew has been raised before and (somewhere) there is a video of a guy (Tim Leatherman?) using the locking knife blade on his Leatherman to extract a cork by simply knocking the blade into the cork firmly, twisting and then pulling.

 

[ged]

Can't stand the stuff. The wife carries the corkscrew. I prefer Victorinox to Leatherman.

 

[garethw]

..... there is a video of a guy (Tim Leatherman?) using the locking knife blade on his Leatherman to extract a cork by simply knocking the blade into the cork firmly, twisting and then pulling.

Yes I found this on Youtube..not sure how he did it as I've never managed with a knife, usually prefering to push the cork in to the bottle. Perhaps I'll give it a go, hopefully without slicing my fingers.
cheers
Gareth

 

[bilmo-p5]

 

[Bushwhacker]

Buy screw-topped wine instead of corked.

 

[nuggets]

buy a box of wine !!-Then you can start a fire with the cardboard and use the empty bladder as a pillow !!

 

[garethw]

Buy screw-topped wine instead of corked.

Unfortunately anything worth drinking comes with a cork... in fact I'd be hard pushed to find any screw topped bottle of wine in our supermarkets as 99% of all French wine producers use a cork. None of the supermarkets here carry other country wines.. well I might find an Algerian or Spanish sangria red but that's about it.

buy a box of wine !!-Then you can start a fire with the cardboard and use the empty bladder as a pillow !!

They do some of the cheaper "Appellation contrôlé" wines in boxes and some are ok...but they'll all be young wines as they don't keep in a box. Anything that is more than four years old or so,just when its starting to mature, will have to be in a corked bottle...
I often get rosé in the summer in a box as its a nice refreshing tipple on a hot day camping... When I had the campervan I could keep it chilled in my fridge...luxury!!

Its all a bit like real ale... yes you can get kegged beer, but if you really want to get the taste for proper beer in the UK you need to find a pun serving proper cask conditioned ale...

Cheers
Gareth

 

[Tiley]

I guess they don't have much wine in Oregan.

Oh yes they do - and what is more galling for the 'Old World' wine producers, the wines from Oregon and California are consistently better. In a recent blind tasting, the U.S. stuff was considered much, much better!

On matters tire-bouchon, I agree that it is an oversight on the part of Leatherman and take due note of all the models that do have a corkscrew; personally, I rate the Victorinox one most highly. The pity is that on the issue army knives, there is no corkscrew. Apparently, Swiss squaddies are supposed to drink beer...

 

[Thoth]

I have a Platypus designed for wine. Different material to the ones for water. Decant your tipple and don't carry the bottle! Allthough, truth to tell, I do carry a SAK!

 

[johnnytheboy]

New world wine is produced light and easy on the palet, cheap new world wine I could believe would woo the masses over cheap old world, but there is no beating a really good bottle of red old world

Anyway, what are you fishing for in France, always been interested in getting a spot of fishing done when i have been over bu never cast a line yet!!!

Oh yes they do - and what is more galling for the 'Old World' wine producers, the wines from Oregon and California are consistently better. In a recent blind tasting, the U.S. stuff was considered much, much better!

On matters tire-bouchon, I agree that it is an oversight on the part of Leatherman and take due note of all the models that do have a corkscrew; personally, I rate the Victorinox one most highly. The pity is that on the issue army knives, there is no corkscrew. Apparently, Swiss squaddies are supposed to drink beer...

 

[Mastino]

Check this out, old world is basically imported stock from the new world. Phylloxera destroid much of the old world wineries in the late 19th century.

In the late 19th century the phylloxera epidemic destroyed most of the vineyards for wine grapes in Europe, most notably in France. Phylloxera was introduced to Europe when avid botanists in Victorian England collected specimens of American vines in the 1850s. Because phylloxera is native to North America, the native grape species there are at least partially resistant. By contrast, the European wine grape Vitis vinifera is very susceptible to the insect. The epidemic devastated vineyards in Britain and then moved to the mainland, destroying most of the European wine growing industry. In 1863, the first vines began to deteriorate inexplicably in the southern Rhône region of France. The problem spread rapidly across the continent. In France alone, total wine production fell from 84.5 million hectolitres in 1875 to only 23.4 million hectolitres in 1889.[1] Some estimates hold that between two-thirds and nine-tenths of all European vineyards were destroyed.

The use of resistant American rootstock to guard against phylloxera also brought about a debate that remains unsettled to this day: whether self-rooted vines produce better wine than those that are grafted. Of course, the argument is essentially irrelevant wherever phylloxera exists. Had American rootstock not been available and used, there would be no V. vinifera wine industry in Europe or most places other than Chile, Washington State, and most of Australia. Cyprus avoided the phylloxera plague, and thus its wine stock has not been grafted for phylloxera resistant purposes

 

[maddave]

Here is the movie


[video=youtube;ZuGfjtBffiE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuGfjtBffiE[/video]

 

[Beardy]

Not sure if this works with anything not sparkling and under pressure, but someone really needs to give it a go with a Mora rather than a sabre
[video=youtube;ye28n_aJspA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye28n_aJspA[/video]

 

[garethw]

Bit of a waste of good champagne to use a sabre... at £25 plus per bottle...Even living here in the Chamapgne region where we can get good stuff cheaper you're still looking at a tenner (15€) a bottle.
cheers
Gareth

 

[nige7whit]

buy a box of wine !!-Then you can start a fire with the cardboard and use the empty bladder as a pillow !!

And... Most wine boxes will fit into a respirator haversack.