Mischief is eager to take over from The Opalcat for her scheduled Sentry Box Duty. The Opalcat is offering some fangwork to accompany her patented InvisiWhiskers for the handover process. Mischief prefers to serve with her typical wide eyes, wooshy whizzers & a cheerful smile.
Jade is eager to begin her Sentry Box Duty, fireworks primed and ready.
Her Boxwork has been strong this morning. Wooshy whizzing wonders everywhere, accompanied by a cheeky innocent smile.
Here are most of my Pilot Preras - the off-white and the dark-turquoise indicated are my newest. These are nearly identical to the cream and the grey, respectively. (There was a gap in the case, so one of my Petit1s is putting in a cheeky guest appearance here.)
Also shown are at least one each of the different TWSBIs in my stash. I also have quite a few duplicates elsewhere, either in rotation or scattered around in secondary storage, but this is what I suppose could be called my TWSBI reference set.
One thing that's becoming increasingly apparent to me is that so many of these are almost identical. A slightly different hue here, a different trim ring colour there, an Eco versus an Eco-T. I guess there are only so many things you can do with a basic colour palette and pen configuration before you start repeating yourself. The same could be said for my Lamy Safaris and AL-stars. There are several of those that are very similar in colour to others.
The Prera is probably my favourite midrange steel nib pen. The 580 ALR is likely my most preferred TWSBI model. The textured ALR section can be quite polarising but I really enjoy it. I just wish the 580 family would post properly.
Mischief was enjoying her early morning longcatting practice today.
Here are a couple more TWSBIs that arrived yesterday : a 580 ALR Affogato with Onyx, and an Eco Rootbeer with Bronze.
I now have dozens of TWSBIs, and part of my unboxing routine is to always grease the pistons and flush the nib & feed. (As a caution to new TWSBI owners : it's not generally recommended to do this, at least until you're comfortable with the process, and it is NOT necessary in order to use the pen. Do that at your own risk.) In my case it's my personal choice and, if I break something, then that's on me.
I swear that each new TWSBI I buy arrives more firmly tightened down than the previous one. I'm not just talking about the piston assembly, which isn't supposed to be undone unless you know the risks. No; it's also the case with their caps. I don't know who they employ in the assembly line, but I'm sure it's a group of gorillas. I had to really crank down on the 580 ALR to loosen the piston assembly for initial maintenance.
It's additionally risky because a first time owner might not know that you have to turn clockwise rather than the more internationally familiar anticlockwise to loosen and unscrew these piston assemblies. Despite having done this at least a hundred times by now, I was beginning to doubt my own mind when this 580's assembly was refusing to budge under far more force than should have been needed.
I can't help wondering how many of the often-reported cracking issues plaguing this brand are due to them being torqued down to a completely unnecessary billion Nm before shipping. That can't be good. To date, I've only ever had one cracking problem and that was my own fault, but if this practice of overtightening becomes much worse then I'm sure I'll end up joining the masses.
Why, TWSBI, *why?*
Found these online for a reasonable price. The trim ring between the barrel and section is removable and they come with a series of different rings so I swapped them out. I like the cap finial on these.
Mischief and The Opalcat are having another tiring day at the coalface. A never-ending saga of demanding work. Eating and sleeping can be so exhausting.
Jade appreciates all the mod compliments she receives in here, so she asked me to relay this important announcement on her behalf...