Best King Kooker 5500 Stainless Steel Oyster Opener, with Oyster Knife Deals

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List Price: $93.17
Sale Price: $57.81
Today's Bonus: 38% Off

This tool does work, but I had to modify mine to keep it running.

The wood used as the base is a soft pine. After opening a few oysters, the head of the bolt begins to pull into the wood. This causes the whole assembly to get loose. If you tighten up the bolts, after a few more oysters the head will pull farther into the wood.

I solved this by recessing some large, stainless fender washers. The washers that come with it are too small to resist the force exerted when you push the long lever down into the oyster.

Another gripe I have is the uprights that support the handle on my tool were welded at an angle, causing my handle to run at an angle across the board instead of being centered. It still works, but it's a disappointment when you spend this much on a specialty tool to have such poor craftsmanship.

When opening oysters with this tool, you will get small shell fragments in the oyster where the shell is penetrated with the point. I think this small issue is better (and safer) then hand shucking.....unless you're a pro hand shucker.

**ADDED 12/19/2011***

Ordered 3 more for Christmas Gifts. ALL 3 arrived with the frame loose and UNUSABLE. I had to fix each one as above. Unless you are willing to fix this upon arrival.....look elsewhere. In addition, the box they use is far too flimsy for the weight and sharp edges. All 3 of the gift tools arrived with a mangled box (not suitable for gift giving), just like my original order. I emailed the company and documented the issues with photos, but to date they have not responded.

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Got this on Friday, shucked 100 oysters in 45 minutes with two breaks in between on Saturday. We are used to using knives and because of dinner reservations we decided we needed to get going shucking 100 oysters, we were done in no time. One person opening, one person finishing with the knife, badda bing, badda boom. My friends are ordering theirs Monday.

Made a couple improvements; 4 quarter sized rubber furniture feet on the bottom, drilled a 7/8 recessed hole to accomodate beefer washers on the through-bolt bottom, and a cap on the handle,(rough cut from company, sharp edges).

It woiuld be a 5 star if the washers on the bottom were larger. That's it.

Best Deals for King Kooker 5500 Stainless Steel Oyster Opener, with Oyster Knife

We have never been able to have fresh oysters at home because they are too difficult to open. Not any more! This opener is fantastic. It opens the oysters in one downward movement. We highly recommend it.

Honest reviews on King Kooker 5500 Stainless Steel Oyster Opener, with Oyster Knife

It did not go through quality. The metal plate was not attached to the crooked base evenly/. A two inch saw blade cut was in the wood. Poorly constructed.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for King Kooker 5500 Stainless Steel Oyster Opener, with Oyster Knife

I picked up a few dozen fresh oysters at Wegmans upon which to try out my King Kooker oyster opener. It worked great! It makes it super easy to open even the most stubborn oyster. This tool is fairly long, and gives you a lot of leverage. I'd say it gives 4-5 times leverage, so 10 or 20 pounds applied to the end of the handle on your part can result in 40 to 100 pounds placed right at the weak spot of an oyster's shell. I felt much safer using this tool than trying to use a knife. Plus it makes you grin from ear to ear when you get a really stubborn oyster and you just keep cranking up the pressure until the shell opens.

The base is made of a piece of 2x6 dimensional lumber. I thought that odd at first, but actually it works very well, because it keeps the oyster shell from slipping. The wood is coated with something like lacquer so it is still cleanable after using it with oysters.

The only problem I had with the tool is that sometimes the point pushes into the oyster shell without opening the oyster. But this is more a problem with the oyster's shell than the tool itself. It doesn't really matter though, since you can easily slip the included oyster knife into the cracked shell and open it up.