I just bought one of these and am curious about others experience with it.
The Portugese corker I'm used to had a stamped metal flang on the underside
that firmly located the top of the bottle under the hole that the cork
pushes through - the Italian version doesn't have this, but instead just has
an opening in the bottom that's a good bit larger than the top of my 750 ml
bottle (I presume to accomodate larger bottles as well). Also on the
Italian corker the plate the bottle sits on is painted metal versus a
textured plastic on the Portugese, and seems to be a more slippery surface
for the bottle to rest upon. All together, it seems like the bottle is not
as firmly seated in the Italian corker as it is with the Portugese.
However, the Italian corker does seem to compress the corks and insert them
much more easily. I'm curious for any of you who have used both, whether
you experience any problems with the cork inserting properly with the
Italian corker - just a few trial insertions and it seems to work very
easily with both real cork and synthetic, but a few of the real corks got a
tear on the bottom. Does the lack of a firmly located bottle lead to tears
on your corks? Is there any way to manage this?

Any ideas you can share on the best use of this corker would be appreciated
(e.g. I put a thin rubber mat on the bottle rest, and that seemed to help
stabilize the bottle). Also, there's no directions with this thing - does
anyone know what the "adjusting screw for the plate", at the bottom, is used
for.

Thanks for your help,

Ed

Ed
I have an older Italian Corker. I was told the bent adjusting screw is to
control how deep the cork is inserted.
I find how the cork is inserted depends more on your stroke. A smooth
stroke from begin to end seems to work best although I find going slow at
first and then a stronger smooth thrust inserts the cork flush. Also a drop
of food grade oil on the brass jaw may help it mesh better.
Sarge

"Ed Marks" wrote in message
...
I just bought one of these and am curious about others experience with it.
The Portugese corker I'm used to had a stamped metal flang on the
underside
that firmly located the top of the bottle under the hole that the cork
pushes through - the Italian version doesn't have this, but instead just
has
an opening in the bottom that's a good bit larger than the top of my 750
ml
bottle (I presume to accomodate larger bottles as well). Also on the
Italian corker the plate the bottle sits on is painted metal versus a
textured plastic on the Portugese, and seems to be a more slippery surface
for the bottle to rest upon. All together, it seems like the bottle is
not
as firmly seated in the Italian corker as it is with the Portugese.
However, the Italian corker does seem to compress the corks and insert
them
much more easily. I'm curious for any of you who have used both, whether
you experience any problems with the cork inserting properly with the
Italian corker - just a few trial insertions and it seems to work very
easily with both real cork and synthetic, but a few of the real corks got
a
tear on the bottom. Does the lack of a firmly located bottle lead to
tears
on your corks? Is there any way to manage this?

Any ideas you can share on the best use of this corker would be
appreciated
(e.g. I put a thin rubber mat on the bottle rest, and that seemed to help
stabilize the bottle). Also, there's no directions with this thing - does
anyone know what the "adjusting screw for the plate", at the bottom, is
used
for.

Thanks for your help,

Ed

"Ed Marks" wrote in message
...
just a few trial insertions and it seems to work very
easily with both real cork and synthetic, but a few of the real corks got
a
tear on the bottom. Does the lack of a firmly located bottle lead to
tears
on your corks? Is there any way to manage this?

Tearing on the edge of the cork could be a bottle alignment problem or the
cork is flaring before it enters the bottle. Check to see if the rim of the
bottle is exposed when the jaws are closed around the cork