Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I've never owned a sharpener that's as versatile as this one! First of all, this will sharpen both wood AND plastic. Even more amazing: you can sharpen 3 different size pencils. There are two openings: 1 for standard size pencils and the other side is big enough for jumbo size crayons. There is a removable adapter ring that fits in the bigger side, so you can sharpen the mid-size pencils too! There is a lid to keep the shavings from falling all over the place and a small pick that slides out, that is used to clean around the blades. I should mention that both the lid and the bottom are removable for easy clean-up. This is a great little tool. I was able to sharpen my pencils and crayons with ease, and none of them crumbled. The lid stays on so I haven't had any problems with shavings in my makeup bag. All-in-all I'd say this was $3 well spent!