An oyster knife is essential for opening raw, live oysters. All I would like to add is that I would always put the raw oysters into a large pint-sized glass, rather than eating them one by one. I would then, after having put c.20 oysters in or less, push the oysters down so as to get as much of the salty water out of them as possible, then I would upend the glass over the kitchen-sink with my hand over the top of the glass, so as to allow the rest of the water to be expelled from the glass without having the oysters drop as well. The raw oysters definitely taste a lot better if they have this saltwater eliminated. I also do this trick with raw mussels.
