These shoe stretchers are *wonderful*...until one of them breaks.  Which happened within a month.  It basically broke in such a way that it didn't *look* broken, but in fact the rod stripped, much like a screw would strip.  Once the rod strips, you can no longer cause the wooden foot to splay out wider, making it completely useless.

Mind you, it's not like I'm some uber-strong freak of nature who over-tightened it or anything (in fact I'm a petite, 5'3, 116 pound woman).  Moreover, not only did I not over-tighten it, but I was being *very* careful, because I was using it on a fabric dancing show that is no longer being manufactured, so I was being extremely careful with tightening it.

So half of the pair worked perfectly - but the other half was unusable. :-(

In fact, I'm on the site right now ordering a replacement pair of stretchers. :-(  (Ordering plastic ones from another vendor.)