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Metrokane Rabbit Wine Opener Tool Kit, Silver by Metrokane
Product SummaryManufacturer: Metrokane Brand: Metrokane Model: 6015 Product features: - Striking, easy-to-use, powerful device pulls wine cork in 3 seconds
- Ruggedly constructed of polycarbonate and reinforced nylon
- Foilcutter, drip-stop ring, bottle sealer, wax remover, and extra worm included
- All items fit into covered storage case, suitable for gift-giving
- 10-year warranty
Accessories:
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Metrokane Rabbit Wine Opener Tool Kit, SilverCustomer Review: How to use the Metrokane Rabbit Summary: 4 Stars
From a design standpoint, this is a very good product. But the documentation is pathetic, and was clearly never tested with new / real users. There is no explanation of how it's supposed to work. That understanding is very helpful: with it, you'll never have trouble, and will marvel at the clever design. Let's get started.
Have a bottle of wine handy on which you've already used the supplied (and very good) little foil cutter to remove the foil over the cork.
Take the unit in your hand and look at the movable parts. The overhead lever that swings outward / downward and then is reversed / brought back over the top - moves the spiral corkscrew up and down. To see this, operate the overhead lever with one hand while holding the clamping "side handles" with the other. When you move the overhead handle the corkscrew rotates.
Why is the corkscrew turning? Because it's forced to do that as it goes through a "guide" (the metal collar with gray plastic center). The gray plastic piece has an internal spiral track that forces the corkscrew to rotate as it passes through.
Here's the critical point: as long as the guide mechanism is locked in place and can't move up or down, the guide forces the corkscrew to rotate when going through.
What if this guide were locked in place on the `down-stroke,' but could move vertically on the `up-stroke'? Then the guide would force the corkscrew to rotate on the way down (so the corkscrew would penetrate the cork), but the guide would stay attached to (and _not_ rotate) the corkscrew on the way up - thus pulling the cork.
When the unit is operated correctly this is exactly what happens. But how?
Look more closely: Before using the Rabbit's `side-handles' to hold the wine bottle neck, the guide is locked in place by two protruding spring-loaded latches and can't move vertically. Try it: it won't budge. (You can actually see these small latches projecting over the top of the guide and keeping it from moving - by looking in the area above and to the far rear of the guide, near the smooth rod.)
On the other hand, when the clamping handles are squeezed onto the neck of a bottle, these latches above the guide retract, releasing their hold on the guide so it can move upward.
Do this now: Take your bottle of wine and, with the overhead lever rotated to its fully outward / downward position, place the guide directly over the cork and grip the neck of the bottle firmly with the clamping side handles.
Look at the latches described above: they have retracted, and no longer restrain the guide from moving upward. This has no effect during the down-stroke / cork penetration phase, since the guide is already as low as it can go. Because the guide can't move, it forces the corkscrew to rotate when you operate the overhead lever - thus penetrating the cork. Perform this down-stroke.
Now watch what happens when the overhead lever is pulled back to withdraw the cork (while you at the same time continue to grip the bottle neck _firmly_ with the side levers). Because the guide can now move vertically with the corkscrew, it imposes no rotation on the corkscrew. The corkscrew stays inside the cork as the overhead lever is moved outward / downward, and the cork is extracted. Do it. You now have the cork out of the bottle, suspended above the bottle neck, and are still gripping the side handles around the bottle neck.
Release your hold on the side handles and move the Rabbit away from the bottle. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew. Re-grip the side handles with one hand and once again operate the overhead lever, bringing it all the way back to its fully closed position again (as if you were on the original down-stroke into the cork).
As you get to the very end of the stroke, you will feel resistance and will hear a click: the latches have snapped back into place over the top of the guide, locking it in place. The guide is once again `captured' - and cannot move vertically. The cork is still attached to the corkscrew.
Finally, move the overhead lever back yet again to its fully open position (as if pulling the cork from the bottle). This time the latches _don't_ retract (because you're not using the side handles to grip the bottle neck) - so the latches again keep the guide from moving, and this forces the corkscrew to rotate `in reverse' as it passes upward through the guide. The corkscrew backs out of the cork and the cork drops off. It takes all of a few seconds once you get the hang of it.
Understanding the operating principles should help. None of this is well explained (or, indeed, explained at all) in the almost non-existent documentation.
Steve Ferris
Description of Metrokane Rabbit Wine Opener Tool Kit, SilverThis 6-Piece Rabbit Corkscrew Tool Kit includes not only the award-winning Silver Metrokane Rabbit Wine Opener (Model 6005), but you will also receive a Foil Cutter, Drip-Stop Ring, Wine Bottle Stopper / Sealer, Wax Whacker and Extra Replacement Worm.
The Metrokane Rabbit Corkscrew is faster than a speeding bunny. The Rabbit pulls a cork in 3 seconds flat, and then automatically releases the cork. The user-friendly ergonomic design opens any size wine bottle.
All gears are made of hardened metal, and the Rabbit corkscrews have been tested for 20,000 pulls by an independent laboratory. All Genuine Metrokane Rabbit corkscrews include a 10-year manufacturer's warranty.
This Silver Classic Rabbit 6-Piece Wine Tool Kit comes in a handsome "Rabbit Hutch" case for storage with handy spots for storing and displaying each of the 6 pieces. A great gift for a wine lover, this powerful, award-winning tool effortlessly extracts the cork from any wine bottle in 3 seconds with simple lever action. Handles with comfortable rubberized padding easily clamp onto a bottle's neck; the lever drives the tough worm into the cork with a push and then pulls the cork out cleanly with a simple pull. Releasing the cork involves the same action, only with the handles clamped onto the cork. Ruggedly constructed of polycarbonate and reinforced nylon, the cork puller has the heft of a fine, precise high-tech tool and comes by its name, Rabbit, because it resembles a bunny's head. Metrokane corkscrews are independently tested for 20,000 cork pulls; tests assume replacement of the spiral after 1,000 pulls. This model of the Rabbit has a velvety, silver finish, as do the four tools accompanying it. The tools include a squeeze-and-twist foil cutter to strip away the foil covering a cork, a drip-stop ring that fits onto any size wine bottle to prevent stains on table linen, a sealer that twists so tightly into any size bottle's neck it preserves even Champagne bubbles, and a "wax whacker" that flips the wax tablet off a wine cork. Also included is a replacement worm--the installed worm wears out after 20,000 or so corks. The set fits into a handsome presentation case with lucite cover for gift-giving and permanent storage of wine tools. The cork puller carries a 10-year warranty against failure. --Fred Brack
Corkscrews & Openers
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