Champagne sabering: opening a bottle with a sword

If you're looking for a productive way to use up your left-over New Year's Baby Duck, sparkling Mogen David, or other naugachampagne, why not practice your champagne sabering?

This is the process of opening a bottle of bubbly by decapitating it with a swift stroke of a sharp, specially designed sword. A friend first told me about this, explaining that his neighbor loved to saber, and could be relied upon to show up at any party with several very good bottles and a sword, ready to do battle. Link (via Wired)

Update: Derrick sez, "you don't need a special sword. I've sabered bottles with an oyster knife, and I've seen it done with a butter knife. I have one friend whose done it with the base of a wine glass. The trick is just to hit the weak spot where the seams of the bottle and the top meet, so lots of items will work."

[#1 posted by Anonymous , January 2, 2009 4:27 PM]

I have sabered many Champagne bottles successfully, but on partition agueDec. 31 I was attempting to do the same to a domestic sparkling wine, and could not do it. Do you suppose the bottles are different enough to cause the problem??