tron

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I have been looking around on ebay and have come across many old bottle cappers. I have looked extensively on the forum and have not been able to find anything about how those cappers will work on todays bottles. If I were to buy one of the older cappers on ebay would the chances be that it would work on today's bottles. The reason behind this is that the old bench cappers are nearly as cheap as the hand cappers found on HBS sites, am I right in thinking they will work with any bottle, especially the adjustable cappers?

Radarbrew

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The experience I have had with cappers is they're pretty much all the same, although I tend to use a bench capper if I have a choice. The hand cappers and old age tend to have a disagreeable effect on the bottles, ie. they shoot out from under on to the floor. Of couse, that's just me. The only one I'll never use again I call a "slap capper" It looks like a blackjack, and the idea is to position everything and tap it with a light hammer (wrench, socket, rock) and the whole mess is capped. They tend to break bottle necks, or chip them. Bottom line, the cappers I've used are all the same size it seems, just use the one you like.

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fifelee

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I have seen those antique cappers on Ebay. I plan on buying one someday. If it worked it would be gratifying to use a little piece of history in my brewery. If not it would be a great conversation pieced to display in the future bar in my future basement. Win-Win

Brew-boy

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I bought an old bench capper off of ebay. This thing is a beast all cast iron frame and steel parts. This one will cap anything it has under it. I always had trouble with the two handle red plastic capper you get with the kits.

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2nd Street Brewery

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I found an old bench capper in my house when I bought it 12 years ago. I had to use it in a pinch when the plastic hand capper that came with my kit broke durring bottling. I've been using the antique one ever since. The only thing I need to do is replace the rubber pad the bottle sits on since the origional one is rotting off.

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tron

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Good to hear! Does any one know if most bench cappers will work with wine bottles as well?

SAS98M

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tron,To push corks ?? the bench tops would be the closest,The bottle cappers don't allow a means to colapse the cork at the entry of bottle. I got both the bench top(arbor press)type and a sturdy metal two handle job -got them for $10.00 and $6.00 respectively from an antique shop just down the road from my house-just couldn't pass em up. I figure they'll both outlast me..... Hope this helps.Shane