Buying a pen that tarnishes…on purpose?
So the big names in what I’ll the functional metal pen space – Big Idea Designs and Tactile Turn (and probably many others) offer their pens in brass, bronze and copper. The idea seems to be that while shiny and new when you get them, they age and gain a patina. Ok, we know from reading about all kinds of heirloom objects that Patina Is Good.
When I got my first metal pen bolt action pen I chose a Tactile Turn slim bolt in titanium. They said it was their most popular, and I thought it would be nice to have something that didn’t require any polishing. It’s been a great pen, and we lived happily ever after. Well, until I got to thinking about getting a pen in a metal that develops a patina.
I was attracted to the idea that the pen would adopt a look that was personal – meaning there would be wear marks where I hold it, or whatever. But when I saw pics online it seemed that no, the pen ultimately ends up the same color all over, and in the end you might as well have just painted it that color. Hmmm…what would be a the point of that?
In the end I decided to just give it a try, and got a Tactile Turn slim bolt in bronze. Nice pen. I like the tight clip, and I got it 4 days ago. I looked forward to seeing how long it would take to show any signs of patina. Well, I didn’t have to wait long:
I believe in a month it will be fully gray/brown. Not sure I see what the attraction is, but we’ll see when we get there!
#Ballpoint #BronzePens #Patina #TactileTurn #TactileTurnSlimBolt
