I have arthritis in my back and my knee (need a knee replacement). Bending #4 rebar manually was doable but my structural engineer threw #5 into the mix this year. Bending #5 manually takes every ounce of energy and really hurts both my knee and back. I just bought this bender and OMG, this is incredible!!! I should have bought one of these years ago. It bends #5 rebar in seconds. Do yourself a favor and by one of these and avoid the aggravation of manual bending. We're building an off-the-grid ICF medieval castle (Keene Castle). We have to bend hundreds of these #5 corner pieces. My back is happy I don't have to do this manually any more.