Instep Stretcher Men's Large

Plusses:The wood is nicely shaped and has a smooth finish.The threaded mechanism is all metal and quite heavy.Overall size about what I expected for Mens Large.Minus:The threaded rod was rough. Took *considerable* effort to turn it, not even in a shoe. Dismantled, took to the shop and "polished" the threads with a wire wheel bench grinder. Then gave it coat of machine oil. Improved, but not perfect. Its useable. Docked a couple points for spending shop time to make it do what its supposed to do.Functionally, it does work. Stretching Dansko clogs, a serious challenge for any device. Full grain leather, solid design. The stretcher tends to slip to the back of the shoe when you start tightening. Problem solved by pushing it all the way forward, then jamming a pill vial in between the stretcher and heel to hold it in place. Then the usual shoe stretch spray, 1-2 turns on stretcher, leave overnight in a warm place. Repeat as necessary. Slow and steady wins the race.12-2-2017 Addendum. Bought another one, affirming that I *do* like the stretcher. This one also needed TLC. The threads appeared OK, but unit was rough and hard to turn. Small flecks of aluminum coming from inside. Warmed up some Vaseline, dabbed into the collet area with a qtip, dramatic improvement. With some minor quality control, I'd give it 5 stars. Still recommend it if you don't mind a little fine tuning.

It worked to stretch my shoe. However it broke the first time I used it.

Unfortunately when it arrived it had a piece of wood from the toe area that was chipped off. I suppose I can use wood glue to fix it but for the price I paid I'm not thrilled to be doing my own "repair work" on it. It's made in China so that's probably part of the problem.