Pitting Cherries with a Paper Clip?

I usually only can or preserve things that are locally grown and in season. It seems kind of pointless to preserve something you can buy in a grocery year round. However cherries were $1.99/lb and I couldn't resist. So I bought 4 lbs of cherries and began to wonder how I was going to pit all of them without losing my patience or my mind. I asked a friend what she recommended and she suggested this really cool one from cooking.com that pits four at a time. But my cherries would be unusable by the time it got to me so I googled "how to pit cherries without a pitter." I found that Martha (Stewart, of course) suggests using a paperclip. I thought," really, a lowly paperclip can do this tedious task?" Well it does, and it does it well. No mess, does not mangle the cherry, makes only one hole. Martha is usually right. I pitted all four pounds easily and began some cherry jam.

According to MarthaStewart.com:
Paper clips make useful cherry pitters. Simply unfold a paper clip at its center, and depending on the size of the cherry, insert either the large or small end of the clip through the top of the stemmed cherry. Loosen the pit, and pull it out. If you want to de-pit cherries but leave their stems intact, just insert the clip from the bottom.