I thought the modern answer was ring pulls but they don’t work so well either…

Seems Champagne does have some purpose after all.

Just as well you dont have to buy wine in this quaint little country !

You would never get handles for your files !

Slop which sold for three Euro a few years ago is now being “offered” at only eight Euro !

So, back to a piece of wooden dowel.

One of my most-used tools is a birdcage maker’s awl whose point lives in a cork when not in use.

Champagne corks are usually OK but wine bottle “corks” are mostly some sort of plastic resin, possibly with a slight mix of ground cork.  We have lots of cork oaks growing round here but they are rarely harvested.

Russell

On 22 June 2024 at 10:29 Russell Eberhardt Said:

Champagne corks are usually OK but wine bottle “corks” are mostly some sort of plastic resin, possibly with a slight mix of ground cork.  We have lots of cork oaks growing round here but they are rarely harvested.

Russell

I am told by a geographer specialising in the Mediterranean that almost all cork produced went to the wine industry. With metal caps and plastic things replacing corks there is major concern that the Cork Oak would disappear. A few years ago a good quality cork cost 1 Euro.

JA

There are lots of uses for Cork as a material. Using them to plug wine bottles may be desirable by wine aficionados but I much prefer screw caps for wine except Champagne or Prosecco. I’d probably use the material more often, it makes very nice tool handles, but it’s not inexpensive.

On 22 June 2024 at 13:17 Bo’sun Said:

Off post a little, but following on from JA’s comment.  As I understand it, if the cork isn’t harvested from the Cork Oak tree, I think about every seven years, the tree will die.  And along with it, any associated local industry.  So much for cheaper alternatives.

Yes, commercially the bark is taken every seven years, cut back to the mother layer which will continue to grow.  However the tree will not die if the bark isn’t taken.  The growth of the thick bark has evolved to protect the tree in the intense forest fires we have in the south.  After the fire has passed the trees look completely dead but, in a year or two they come back to life and can live for over 200 years.

Russell

Fun fact: Cork has a Poisson’s ratio of almost 0.

There is a Cork Museum in Mezin which is a small town in Lot-et-Garonne in SW France.  We lived for 5 years in France very close to Mezin and visited the museum.  We also had cork trees in our garden and the cork bark just split as it grew so no problem with not harvesting the cork.

https://ville-mezin.fr/l-histoire-du-musee.html

Richard

I have been following ‘Project Kamp’ on You Tube, and after reading the comments on this thread I thought it would be a good idea to share this link, as it shows the many uses for cork including how it is used to make insulation:

Project Kamp #53

I found it very interesting.

Ketan at ARC

On 24 June 2024 at 16:18 Speedy Builder5 Said:

hardly a good advert ??

or perhaps rather clever. If you complain about poor quality they just say “as advertised”.