The Wartenberg pinwheel was originally designed by Robert Wartenberg to test nerve reactions, or sensitivity, as it rolled across the skin. The medical field has just about done away with using these because of hygienic concerns.

This pinwheel is best used as a sensory toy to help sensitize the skin. You can even use it across freshly spanked,whipped or flogged skin for an extra sensitive experience. You can also turn it on its side and carefully use it to "scratch", just be extra careful if you do this, it's easy to cut someone this way. The coldness of the metal could be used in sensory play as well and if you like to tease you can flip it over and use the handle to penetrate your partner. Just be sure to clean it afterwards with some toy cleaner, antibacterial soap and water or with toy wipes and dry thoroughly.

The Wartenberg pinwheel is probably best suited for average or advanced users as the tips tend to be on the sharp and pointy side, but anyone can really use this toy as long as caution is exercised.

The design is quite nice actually. I like that it's a little scary looking and really shiny. Scary-looking toys in my opinion make it much more exciting to try them out. Anyway, if you want scary I'll let you in on a little secret of mine: My husband and I own double and triple wheeled Wartenberg wheels! They're lots of fun.

Back to the topic at hand. In my opinion this toy is very well made and pretty darn sturdy being that it's stainless steel. It's cold to the touch and smooth handled aside from the grip grooves. It looks great, all that shiny metal, and maybe a little scary to people who have never seen one before. As far as smell goes, there's a slight metallic smell but you get that from most anything made of metal.

This toy fits quite well in your hand and is easy to manipulate, just be careful if your hands are previously slippery from playing with other toys and lube as this could cause your hand to slip and cut someone.

The dimensions are as follows:

Overall length: Just shy of 7"
Wheel (spikes included): About 1" across
Handle: Just over 5" long

This toy worked very well I would say. Before my first experience with this toy I thought it would be painful and not all that enjoyable, but it really sensitized my skin and gave me a pleasurable tingly feeling that I've never in my life experienced. We liked it so much that my husband and I found a place to purchase double and triple wheeled pinwheels. We've been having so much fun incorporating them into our BDSM scenes/play.

Aside from its intended use we did find a few other ways to use it. Try using it on its side for scratching, flipped over to penetrate using the handle and holding the wheel part and using the cold metal as an added sensation for the skin.

The pinwheel is pretty easy to care for. It can be cleaned with toy wipes on the handle end and antibacterial soap and warm water on the wheel end. Make sure to dry it thoroughly.

My particular pinwheel came with its own little plastic/pvc storage pouch, so we usually keep it in that in our play room.