Refillable Ballpoint Pen

Details

A twist-action ball point pen taking the Parker-style G2 refill, part LEAF-BP98, at Rs 42 to Rs 50 depending on pack size, stocked for as long as this pen is sold and for five years after it is discontinued. It takes any other G2 refill too, because G2 is the industry envelope and not a house format, and a pen locked to one supplier's refill is a pen with an expiry date. The rest of this listing is about what the metal actually is. Brass is not a specification, it is a family, and the brass every machined pen barrel in the world is turned from is free-machining brass, which contains lead deliberately: the lead is what lets a cutting tool leave a clean surface instead of tearing. Almost no listing says so, because the word lead on a page is inconvenient. So:

• The brushed brass and the matte black are both CZ121 free-machining brass, CuZn39Pb3, which carries up to 3 percent lead by specification. That is what makes it machinable and it is why the alloy is used
• The brushed brass is sealed with a clear lacquer, and a surface wipe test for lead comes back below the laboratory detection limit. The matte black carries a baked epoxy-polyester powder coat over the same alloy
• The stainless steel finish is AISI 304, a single homogeneous alloy with no lead in it at all. It is Rs 60 more, it is 4 g lighter, and if you would rather not hold a leaded alloy at all, that is the one to buy. We would rather steer you than sell you the cheaper one quietly
• Twist mechanism, brass cam and a stainless spring, tested to 20,000 extend and retract cycles with no change in extension
• Weighs 32 g in brass, 28 g in stainless, balanced just behind the grip so it does not need to be gripped hard
• Knurled grip section, cut rather than pressed, so it holds when a hand is warm
• Clip is stainless steel spring temper, tested to 5,000 clip cycles over a 3 mm pocket edge
• Salt spray to ISO 9227 for 48 hours on the stainless, coating adhesion by cross-cut to ISO 2409 on the black, both with no failure
• There is no BIS product specification for a ball point pen body, so what is printed here is the alloy grade and the test methods rather than a grade name
• Unlacquered brass patinas. This one is lacquered, so it will not, and if you want the patina you will have to strip it yourself. That is a choice we made and it is not reversible in the shop