Sabring Champagne
Inspired by my dear brother’s example, I taught myself how to sabre the tops from champagne bottles. The same technique works for beer bottles as well—really, anything under a bit of pressure. It’s cool as all get-out: I believe that I may begin opening all my bottles this way.
The method is simple: hold the bottle at the base, pointed in a roughly 30° angle away from oneself and toward some safe direction; ensure that bottle seem is pointed straight upwards; line sword up in such a fashion as to intercept the head-neck join; slide sword parallel to bottle such that it crashes into the aforesaid join at the intersection of join & seam. The head will then fly off, carrying with it the cork or bottle cap.
The principle is this: the seam is the weakest point of the bottle, and when it is struck violently it ruptures. We don’t want the bottle to rupture along the seam, as that would spill the contents, and so strike so perpendicular thereto, breaking the glass along the head-neck join. The slight crack rapidly enlarges, the head flies off and the expanding gases carry out any shards of glass which could have fallen into the liquid. It’s remarkably safe & easy.
