Bought this cool multi pens at a surplus shop;
Pilot BKH-150S-S
Platinum MWB-2000C
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I prefer the PILOT as it just feels a little better made. But they’re both nice.
Do you know about the etched variant?
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btw, is there any information which etching method was used?
There isn’t much, but from what I’ve gathered PILOT used an acid etching process. The exact specifics haven’t been publicly divulged. And I’ve heard it may be a “secret sauce” lost to time–the people who did it have retired and are incommunicado. At least, that’s what PILOT reps have told me.
The speculation is that an acid resistant coating is applied to the steel tubular body in way to expose a pattern, using machinery. Then an acid bath is given that lightly dissolves the exposed metal in a uniform fashion. Once removed from the acid and cured, the exposed pattern can then be color treated. And it seems to be some kind of anodizing or color acid etching. Black is most common. There’s also a silver color very closely matched the steel, making it look raw. It’s often called “white stripe” because it’s “opposite” of black.
How is it not enamel? You can remove enamel with light scrubbing and acetone. I actually tried this on a well worn example that had fading to the black lines. I thought I could just make it “silver stripe.” But that anodizing was really tough and I couldn’t completely eliminate it, just thin it.
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Thank you, would laser “etching” be used today exclusively, because it was not available at the time, or could there still be an advantage of acid over laser today for this application?