Key bottle opener

I wanted the ability to easily open a beer without carrying an extra keychain or card in my wallet. I don't like bulky key chains and don't like carrying extra stuff.

...So here's how I modified the key to my '92 Honda Civic to moonlight as a bottle opener.

TOOLS & MATERIALS:
- Key (car keys probably work better than house keys - so opening a bottle will be a reminder not to drink if you're driving!)
- Bottle with cap still on
- Dremel tool with cutting wheel and high-speed cutter drill bit
- Safety glasses (protection from the metal dust)

Step 1 Figure out the geometry of your key as it relates to a bottle

Making a bottle opener out of my Honda key was pretty straightforward. The groove along the top of the key was just waiting to be modified for the purpose. Hold the key up to the bottle and work out where the key needs to grip under the bottle cap and where you're going to get the leverage from.

I'm sure there are dozens of different key geometries that would work just as well.

Comments

[pancho del rancho]

foo u should try with just a bottle cap went i went to mexico this foo uses a bottle cap alone to open and would lanch the beer cap in the air but i didnt ask him how it would be coo if u ind out and post it

[morgaash]

You can open a beer bottle with anythn hard. Just grip the bottle tightly under the cap and lever off using your holding hand as the pivot

[phunkeyrobot]

kewl

[BluePhenox]

this is cool but couldn't you just use the back of the key to open a bottle?

[j626no]

does that little metal piece across the top bend when used? after being cut it looks kinda thing/flimsy and I'd be fearful that after a few uses it would at least flex, possibly bend. If not, weekend project accepted :)

[BarginsTech]

The keys that are like the one in the picture are made thicker on the top. It wont be flimsy cause its cut shorter. Just like a shorter thicker stick is harder to break then a long one. :]

[Notbob]

It probably doesn't, or if it does, very little. This would be because keys need to be made from a hard metal to keep their shape even after being used millions of times.

[carlo$]

excellent.

[mg0930mg]

Nice. Since I am underage there are only a few things I'd ever need this for. Root Beer bittles, mountain dew bottles, and some birch beeer bottles. We have a super old looking coco-cola bottle opener on the wall in our kitchen. I'll take a picture to show that, and this i'ble later,

[Mr. Brownie]

Uhm, Birch Beer?

[mg0930mg]

birch beer is amazing. Pennsylvania dutch makes that root beer, and cream soda in a glass bottle. They're cool. I love cream soda, and birch beer.

[fwjs28]

WOOT! i live in PA, and i think the PA dutch are awesome! especially their sayings...

[mg0930mg]

hAha. I LOVE PD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[clark]

i didn't know mountain dew came in glass bottles....

[Kayjay]

the really old ones did come in glass infact im looking at one right now

[static]

I'm sure I still have some old 16 ounce Dew bottles around here yet. Yahoo, it's Mountain Dew! Bottle graphics depicting hill billies and moon shine stills. Would that date me as an old fart?

[devophill]

Yes. (It's good for yore innards.)

[EnigmaMax]

it'll make em tickle too!

[mg0930mg]

It's not glass, Aluminum. Special edition Halo bottles for awhile were aluminum. There's also normal ones too.

[R4Man18]

depending on where you live. iirc you can get then in a lot of places up north in the states. you pay to use glass bottles when return em for your cash back. greener than plastic.

[dfc849]

the only problem with deposits on that is some people cheat by using cans/bottles not purchased in a state (for example, Michigan)

[R4Man18]

IIRC they have markings on the bottles now to indicate where it came from.

[rattyrain]

Like on that episode of Seinfeld!

[rilokiley77]

This is fantastic. I never got the hand of using the bottom a lighter to open up my fizzies. Thanks!

[aaronjoh]

Great idea! My key is huge so i made a different style of bottle opener that works great: http://www.instructables.com/id/Big_Key_Bottle_Openner/

[John_P]

Cool! You can get drunk then drive home. Joke. that's a cool idea though.

[static]

Not to mention getting drunk while driving home. Was a time when everyone made sure there was a church key in the car. During those hard times before pop a top cans and twist off bottle caps where invented.

[teeps]

very clever! I always mess up my hands when I try tricks like using a Bic lighter. Considering I have the exact same key this looks like a fun little project. My only suggestion would be posting your exact measurements for the cuts considering you are using a standard key shape and all the bottles use the same top so there isn't a huge need to finesse the shape if people just want a clone. I wonder if you could market these to hardware stores.

[k4c2m4r]

Nice idea, although one doesn't have to modify the key to use it to open a bottle :-)

[supersam78250]

smart man

[Weissensteinburg]

Cool idea! I'd suggest adding a picture of just the key, not on a bottle.

[menteral]

Done - posted in both the intro and step 4.

[Weissensteinburg]

That's perfect.

[DIY Dave]

What kind of drill bit is that in the last picture?

[menteral]

It's the high speed cutter that came with my Dremel tool. Any suitably sized bit that is capable of cutting metal would work.

[DIY Dave]

I don't drink, but I think I'll make one just for fun.

[LuminousObject]

This is awesome. I don't drink, but maybe i can do this to one of my dads keys.

[menteral]

You might want to make sure he's got a spare one first!

[Earthy Eric]

that's a pretty sweet idea, nice instructable. did you have any problems with the key being to soft? any bending or anything?

[menteral]

I haven't had problems with the key being too soft. This is the second one of these that I made - I lost the other one after over a year of trusty service. The relative softness of the metal does make it easy to work with a Dremel tool though.