Description
Anniversary Natural Type III Anodized B Stock Release
Sometimes I feel like a broken record talking about turning lemons into lemonade, but I’m talking about it again. We had the grand idea to use the new Natural (Type III) hard anodize for our Anniversary releases this year because it’s a nice light grey color. We’d get several pens anodized in this color and anodize the clips and knobs or other accessories in matte red. This turned out to be one of those times where nothing went according to plan. The first batch of pens we got back had major mismatched anodize on the different pieces. Caps didn’t match the bodies, upper and lower bodies looks completely different. We sent the pens back to have them stripped and anodized a second time. This time they ran the pens longer and got a more uniform color but much darker than normal. Even then, we ended up with problems in the anodize with some streaks showing up, and light areas at the thread points. Due to the solution used to strip the pens, some of the aluminum was pitted off and then filled with the thicker anodize coating. Unfortunately, this is what happens with Type III anodize, it’s not meant for cosmetic purposes and is VERY hard to color match parts. These are the reasons for the XV Anniversary Special Releases being all B Stock releases.
What does B Stock mean? For us, B Stock is any pen that is fully functional with cosmetic or aesthetic issues. These can be anything from mismatched anodize, to streaks in the finish, small pits in the surface of the aluminum, surface inconsistencies in the material, anodize or Cerakote voids or wear, dings in the base material that can’t be covered, or any other visible issue. These items will function like they should, they’ll just look a little “out of place” when considered against our normal A Stock releases. Due to this factor, B Stock pricing will reflect this and be at least 25% off the retail price of the pen.
We’ve selected stainless steel screws for this release because they look a little better on the red than the matte black screws. Ships with a black Pilot G2 refill.
Limited Availability
The Bolt is made from 6061-T aluminum on our CNC lathes and Swiss machining centers, in Mesa, Arizona. Pilot refills are manufactured in Japan.
*6061 aluminum clips are not as stiff as our stainless steel clips. They have more spring to them and can snap or bend if caught and pulled hard on something. They are more than adequate and stronger than many clips used on metal pens made out of lighter material. The anodize will wear over time, but it is more robust than the black nitride we use on our standard black clips.
