my husband rolled his eyes when this was delivered but after a week he understands my reasoning. I have arthritis and this causes continual pain and a loss of movement in my hands as well as other joints. with 2 children still in primary school we use a lot of pencils both for writing and colouring. I used to dread being asked to help sharpen endless pencils now the boys look for pencils to sharpen themselves! the wee machine is easy to use and very fast and effective. my younger sons love the fact that they are helping me by doing a job I used to find hard and painful. I haven't told them that using this wee machine it is almost as easy for me as it is for them!