Am I the only one who thinks this is weird? (bottle opener preference)

[King_Gorilla]

Most bottle openers I have used on or off of multi tools have been designed to be gripped in one hand and lifted in an upward motion.  Some bottle openers like the Coke one in the picture are designed to work in either direction.  I find the upward lifting design to be the most effective way to use your leverage to open a bottle cap. 

I took this concept to be self-evident until a recent conversation with a friend of mine.  We were discussing the awesome carabiner-clip/bottle openers on the Leatherman Skeletool, Signal, and Style.  I LOVE the multi functionality of these tools but I was telling my friend that I prefer opening a bottle with the lift motion rather than pulling over and across the top of the bottle, as one must to use those style of openers.  He was surprised because he actually preferred to pull-over motion. 

I didn’t give this much thought until I started seeing a strange trend in small multi tools.  I am seeing more one piece tools that have a bottle opener on one edge but they have been designed in a way that you must use the awkward “pull-over” method.  If the bottle opener is also a carabiner then I totally understand this choice because it is first and foremost meant to be clipped and hung in user friendly manner.  But then look at the new CRKT Septimo.  They could have easily carved the bottle opener in the other direction so that you can use the lift method, but instead they didn’t. 

SO.  Given the choice, which method do you prefer when opening a bottle?  Do you believe that there is method to CRKTs madness, or is this a dumb oversight?  How badly am I overthinking this?   

[Jim the Brave]

Well I particularly never gave it any thought, because I simply open bottles with my bare hands.

The only ones I ever drink with metal caps are IBC soda, and those I can get off with my bare hands.

[nate j]

My vote is that you're overthinking it, but on that note, why can't that style of bottle opener be used from the front with a downward pushing motion rather than the pull over motion you show?

[Echotech]

I’m with you King G, I prefer the lift up to the pull over style too

Ever tried the one on the Swisstool SwissKey? Very fiddly BUT for its size also very handy to be fair

My main gripe with most MT cap lifters is they’re too thin to really get purchase and so you have to carefully place it in a crimp but can take quite a few attempts.

The Gerber Dime for its faults does have this solved with a truly excellent opener IMO

Bottle opener is a must have for me and why I choose rambler/manager over the classic

Over thinking it? Maybe, but hey that’s what we do here

[King_Gorilla]

I’m with you King G, I prefer the lift up to the pull over style too

Ever tried the one on the Swisstool SwissKey? Very fiddly BUT for its size also very handy to be fair

My main gripe with most MT cap lifters is they’re too thin to really get purchase and so you have to carefully place it in a crimp but can take quite a few attempts.

The Gerber Dime for its faults does have this solved with a truly excellent opener IMO

Bottle opener is a must have for me and why I choose rambler/manager over the classic

Over thinking it? Maybe, but hey that’s what we do here

I carried a swisskey on my keychain for years.  I would think of it as my backup bottle opener due to it being a pain to open and take off my key ring.  I need to buy another one because a stupid TSA agent took it from me. 

The Gerber Dime is so funny to me.  I agree that it's opener is outstanding.  I just love how you can look at the progression and evolution of that tool.  I still have a Gerber Clutch that was a groomsman gift.  I love it, but the bottle opener is so mind-bogglingly useless that you can see many scratches on the side of the tool from when I used the entire tool to open beers in the same way you would use a Bic lighter.  Then over the years Gerber made newer models.  I think it is the Vise that had a slightly better bottle opener, but still bad.  Then they seemed to throw up their arms in exasperation and they made the Gerber Dime.   


Jim the Brave
I don't drink often, but when I drink beer, it is almost always imported.  So I never really deal with twist off caps.  I also have an alarming addiction to CocaCola and one of the most effective ways I have found to limit my consumption is to buy the glass bottle Mexican Coke.  So between the Coke bottles and the beer, I find myself using bottle openers often.   

 

[King_Gorilla]

My vote is that you're overthinking it, but on that note, why can't that style of bottle opener be used from the front with a downward pushing motion rather than the pull over motion you show?

are you asking about the CRKT Septimo?  or the Leatherman MTs with the carabiner openers? 

Either way, it seems that they are designed to only work in the "pull-over" method.  (at least as far as I can tell) 

[Jim the Brave]

are you asking about the CRKT Septimo?  or the Leatherman MTs with the carabiner openers? 

Either way, it seems that they are designed to only work in the "pull-over" method.  (at least as far as I can tell) 

Hey. You're a gorilla. You should be strong enough to open it any old way you want to. 

[Pauldmmwc]

Personally I am not fussed either way. As long as you get the cap off.
Over the years I have used whatever is closest to hand. MTs , cigarette lighters, egg flips used like a sword,screwdrivers,  A4 sheet of paper folded enough times , seat belt buckles and any number of holes or edges on my Landrovers.
One of the African bush favourites was to, while driving ,  open the RHD  Landy door with right  hand and use the left hand to open the bottle on the door catch.
A man can become very inventive when he is thirsty.

 

[King_Gorilla]

Hey. You're a gorilla. You should be strong enough to open it any old way you want to. 

true......

Personally I am not fussed either way. As long as you get the cap off.
Over the years I have used whatever is closest to hand. MTs , cigarette lighters, egg flips used like a sword,screwdrivers,  A4 sheet of paper folded enough times , seat belt buckles and any number of holes or edges on my Landrovers.
One of the African bush favourites was to, while driving ,  open the RHD  Landy door with right  hand and use the left hand to open the bottle on the door catch.
A man can become very inventive when he is thirsty.

 

      

I have used a seat belt buckle before.  I have never thought about the door catch in the door well, THAT is clever. 

[ReamerPunch]

I prefer pushing upwards. It feels natural.

That orientation with the Signal looks awkward. I never imagined anyone would use it like that. Surely with that style of bottle opener you'd have more leverage if used the other way around. I've seen people use dedicated bottle openers in this orientation too, if they favor pulling. But pushing feels more natural to me.

[King_Gorilla]

I prefer pushing upwards. It feels natural.

That orientation with the Signal looks awkward. I never imagined anyone would use it like that. Surely with that style of bottle opener you'd have more leverage if used the other way around. I've seen people use dedicated bottle openers in this orientation too, if they favor pulling. But pushing feels more natural to me.

OH, ignore the way my hand is positioned in the pictures.  It was only that way because I was using my other hand to hold my phone.  If I am using the Signal, or any other MT with a similar opener, I will hold the tool just like in the picture you provided. 

The issue I am talking about is that with those kinds of openers your hand is above the bottle making a pull-over motion instead of a more direct lifting motion that you would be making if the "hook" part of the opener was facing the other direction. 

Let me know if that doesn't make sense, I can take another picture. 

[MichaelGT83]

My main gripe with most MT cap lifters is they’re too thin to really get purchase and so you have to carefully place it in a crimp but can take quite a few attempts.

Exactly the reason I've carried a dedicated bottle opener on my keyring for longer than I have any kind of mini SAK or MT. Much easier.


And for the original question, I definitely prefer the "push/lift up" method.

[pfrsantos]

I, personally, never used one of those things. I'm affraid they might hurt me. I have another method:



 

[Echotech]

[Alan K.]

No preference.  If I have a beverage that requires mechanical advantage to open it then I'm happy to use whichever type of opener is closest at hand and I don't give it much thought after that. If pull over openers such as the carabiner on the Skeletool bothers you you can always hold the bottle opener firmly while pushing down on the bottle against the opener instead of pulling the opener across the bottle.   

[Sos24]

I never really thought about it, but would say that I prefer lift-up method because that is how I do it using the style that allows you to do it either way. 

Now the ones I don’t like are the finicky ones like Echotech mentions that only work if you get them just right in a crimp.  The Rambler is like this.  For as much as I love the Rambler and having the back-up bottle opener, it frustrates me on certain bottles that are crimped really tight.

[smiller43147]

It depends, if there is a table or counter to work with, I think the reach over push down opener has more leverage.
If you're stuck just holding bottle and opener in your hands, the lift up type opener is easier to use.

[King_Gorilla]

It depends, if there is a table or counter to work with, I think the reach over push down opener has more leverage.
If you're stuck just holding bottle and opener in your hands, the lift up type opener is easier to use.

That's an interesting point to consider. 

No preference.  If I have a beverage that requires mechanical advantage to open it then I'm happy to use whichever type of opener is closest at hand and I don't give it much thought after that. If pull over openers such as the carabiner on the Skeletool bothers you you can always hold the bottle opener firmly while pushing down on the bottle against the opener instead of pulling the opener across the bottle.   

It's not a matter of it bothering me.  I carry a Signal and a Style on my keychain every day.   I use them all the time and I think that although it is an inferior way to open a bottle, I am happy to use it because that part of the tool is also useful as a carabiner clip.  The extra functionality more than justifies the less-than-ideal bottle opener.  I just prefer the other kind of opener, so it is odd to me that multi tool designers would make tools like the Septimo or this OPT where the bottle openers could have easily been flipped around the other way and the whole tool would be better off for it. 

[Outback in Idaho]

Hmm... 

[nate j]

Now the ones I don’t like are the finicky ones like Echotech mentions that only work if you get them just right in a crimp.  The Rambler is like this.  For as much as I love the Rambler and having the back-up bottle opener, it frustrates me on certain bottles that are crimped really tight.

For SAK-type openers, rather than worrying about the exact placement, I just put it on there and lift up.  If the bottle doesn't open, I rotate the bottle a slightly in my hand, put the bottle opener on and lift up again.  Even if the bottle doesn't open, it will loosen the cap a bit each time.  I repeat this as needed until the cap comes off.  Once you get practiced at it, it is a pretty quick process, even if takes 3-4 tries to open a bottle. 

[Sos24]

For SAK-type openers, rather than worrying about the exact placement, I just put it on there and lift up.  If the bottle doesn't open, I rotate the bottle a slightly in my hand, put the bottle opener on and lift up again.  Even if the bottle doesn't open, it will loosen the cap a bit each time.  I repeat this as needed until the cap comes off.  Once you get practiced at it, it is a pretty quick process, even if takes 3-4 tries to open a bottle.

Most SAK openers are no problem at all, it is just the 58mm one like on the Rambler.  As you can see from the below pictures comparing to a 91mm, the Rambler’s opener’s hook is fat, short and not that deep, so if you do not place it carefully, it will just slip off without even loosening at all.

[nate j]

Most SAK openers are no problem at all, it is just the 58mm one like on the Rambler.  As you can see from the below pictures comparing to a 91mm, the Rambler’s opener’s hook is fat, short and not that deep, so if you do not place it carefully, it will just slip off without even loosening at all.
(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)

Interesting.  I don't have much experience with the 58mm.  It almost looks like it is designed to go onto the cap at more of an angle than the 91mm.  Is that how you use it?

[Sos24]

Interesting.  I don't have much experience with the 58mm.  It almost looks like it is designed to go onto the cap at more of an angle than the 91mm.  Is that how you use it?

Yes.  Here is a picture showing how the bottle opener starts.  The hook part is just barely under a crimp.

[nate j]

Yes.  Here is a picture showing how the bottle opener starts.  The hook part is just barely under a crimp.
(Image removed from quote.)

The picture is worth a thousand words.  Seems like the 58mm bottle opener is better than nothing, but leaves a lot to be desired.

On the 84mm and larger SAKs, bottle opening seems to be one thing the combo tools do better than the dedicated opener layer.

[King_Gorilla]

The picture is worth a thousand words.  Seems like the 58mm bottle opener is better than nothing, but leaves a lot to be desired.

On the 84mm and larger SAKs, bottle opening seems to be one thing the combo tools do better than the dedicated opener layer.

I have a mini champ with that same opener.  The frustrating part is that I feel like Victorinox could make a 58mm SAK with a bottle opener/slotted driver from the 84mm size.  I don't think it would stick out that much.  They would have to design it with at least one side having a single central pivot rather than the 2 they have on all the 58mm's.  But I'm pretty sure it is possible.

[Jim the Brave]

I have a mini champ with that same opener.  The frustrating part is that I feel like Victorinox could make a 58mm SAK with a bottle opener/slotted driver from the 84mm size.  I don't think it would stick out that much.  They would have to design it with at least one side having a single central pivot rather than the 2 they have on all the 58mm's.  But I'm pretty sure it is possible.

I don't think they're eager to do that, because going from a corner pivot to a central pivot would mean all new parts for the liners and scales, and that's not part of their philosophy from what I've observed. They usually want all the parts in a size bracket to essentially be interchangeable.

[GearedForwards]

In general the upwards version, but the Skeletool may be one of the best bottle openers I've used period, very smooth and comfortable.

The 58mm combo phillips is... useable, I find it takes me two attempts with those. One breaks the seal and the second actually manages to part cap from bottle (usually over a little from the initial attempt).

[Sos24]

In general the upwards version, but the Skeletool may be one of the best bottle openers I've used period, very smooth and comfortable.

The 58mm combo phillips is... useable, I find it takes me two attempts with those. One breaks the seal and the second actually manages to part cap from bottle (usually over a little from the initial attempt).

:agree:  It takes 2-3 attempts, but is usable, which is why I see it as a back-up.

[Alan K.]

Still better than using your teeth.

[pfrsantos]

Still better than using your teeth.

Well, it depends, doesn't it?...