Mine is made from a heavy metal of some kind. Yes, I mostly use it to pitt olives for things like tapenade and mufalletas. It is wonderful, even when the pitts don't fit through the hole, it really saves a lot of time by loosening them so I can just easily pick them out. Also if you make cherry pies/cobbler, etc. A worthwhile purchase for me, as we are real olive lovers and hubby likes me to make tapenade a lot.