TWSBI Precision Mechanical Pencil Review

Most people know TWSBI for their ever-expanding line of fountain pens, but did you know they make ballpoint pens and mechanical pencils too? I found it to be an interesting decision when TWSBI first introduced these items, but as I have come to expect from them they have created a high quality, fairly priced product.

The model I received for review from JetPens is the TWSBI Precision Mechanical Pencil 0.5 mm with retractable tip. It is a full metal body pencil with a nice knurled-style grip, and a tip that retracts when pressing down on it and clicking the mechanism. It's a nice feature, although not one that is make or break for me personally. What is interesting though is that the retractable tip models are the exact same price ($25) as the fixed tip models. That is not something you see from other vendors. The retractable tip usually costs a premium.

Writing with the Precision is a nice experience. It is well balanced, the knurling is tame, and the provided lead of unknown origin is smooth, dark, and not too soft. The eraser is one of the niceset I have used on a mechanical pencil, removing all traces of graphite easily and cleanly. And it is extra long, so it is far more useful than it's competition. TWSBI also ships extra leads and erasers with the pencil, which is a great bonus.

If you are a mechanical pencil fan, the comparisons to the Rotring 600 are inevitable. The TWSBI Precision is less expensive and has the added retractable tip option, but the Rotring 600 is widely considered to be one of the best drafting pencils ever made. There is something about its feel that is solid and dense, yet its light enough to allow you to glide across the page without knowing the pencil is there.

So yes, gun to my head I take the Rotring 600 over the TWSBI Precision, but that's just me. The TWSBI is excellent in its own right, and fits in nicely with its competition in this price range. I look forward to seeing what else TWSBI has up their sleeve in the non-fountain pen realm.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

The TWSBI 580 AL Orange, With A Twist

(Jeff Abbott is a regular contributor at The Pen Addict. You can find more from Jeff online at Draft Evolution and Twitter.)

If you've never had the pleasure of owning a TWSBI pen, I hope that this review can change your mind. For the money, they're nearly impossible to beat. They feel great, write well, and offer one of the most economical ways to try out a true piston filler mechanism. In a word, TWSBI pens are fantastic.

The most recent TWSBI that I've fallen in love with probably won't surprise many of you — the 580 AL. My first TWSBI was a 540 in Amber, so it seemed fitting that I should pick the orange version of the 580 AL. Yep, I'm pretty happy with my choice.

TWSBI madness

If you follow TWSBI very much, you'll probably know that the orange model of the 580 AL was limited, and they're pretty much sold out at this point. I bought my pen from Pendleton's Pens, and it looks like he still has some of the orange in stock. If you were wanting one of these, I'd hop to it. And if you get one of these pens, you get a huge advantage over the stock TWSBI because it's been pre-tuned by Mr. Pendleton to his signature BLS — Butter Line Stub — grind. This is probably half of the reason I love this pen so much (possibly more than half).

Before I get into the delicious nib, let's take a look at the outside of the pen. The 580 is a full-size pen. It's mostly demonstrator, but the grip section and piston mechanism is aluminum. In the case of my pen, the aluminum is anodized orange, which looks fantastic next to the clear plastic. Like all other TWSBIs, the plastic body is fairly high quality with a great feel to it. The clip is a little weak, but I've come to expect that from the brand. It works fine, but don't expect it to perform at a tactical level.

The 580 is a great length for me unposted. You can technically post this pen, but it becomes comically large at that point. Unlike the 540 before it, the 580 has a bit of shiny trim around the grip section and the piston knob. The shiny metal does a great job of offsetting the clear plastic and subdued aluminum. When you throw in the fact that I have some shimmery blue ink in the pen, the 580 is visually stimulating. You can't shake the impulse to pick this thing up when you see it. For me, it's a great design and aesthetic.

Like I mentioned earlier, this is a piston filler fountain pen. All that means is that the back of the pen has a knob that you can twist to operate the piston filler. Basically, the body of the pen acts like a giant cartridge converter and can hold a large amount of ink. I haven't measured it exactly, but I'd guess it holds around 1.5 ml of ink. And, you always have a very clear view of how much ink you have left as this is a demonstrator body.

The "Elegant Butter-line Stub / Cursive Italic" nib

Ah, the nib. This grind is Pendleton Brown's signature style, and I love it. Basically, it's a mix between a stub and cursive italic, or a cursive italic with "soft" edges. For anyone new to nib grind magic, stub and italic grinds give a nib a nice variance of line width when writing. Generally, a stub grind is much smoother on the paper since the corners of the nib tip are "softer," or ground down a bit. The stub is smooth, but doesn't afford you as much line variation, nor is the variation as crisp as the italic. On the other hand, the italic grind creates sharp lines with more dramatic line width variation. On the downside, they usually have a small "sweet spot," and if you stray from that, then the nib feels scratchy and might even hang on the paper in extreme cases.

All that to say, the BLS grind is a perfect marriage of the two styles. It provides an elegant amount of line variation while remaining incredibly smooth and effortless. If you're new to custom nib grinds, I'd highly recommend trying this one first. You can buy one of Pendleton's pre-tuned TWSBIs, or you can send in a pen of your own for him to grind. Definitely check him out for nib work — he's super nice and he got my order out to me extremely fast. He even sent me an email with a picture of the pen and a writing sample before he shipped it.

I chose a medium nib with the BLS grind for my TWSBI 580. In case I forgot to mention it earlier, I love this nib. It's smooth, right between wet and dry, and provides fantastic line variation. It's not crazy like a flex nib, but it's also not as subtle as my fine Franklin Christoph nib. I really like the medium nib range for this type of grind, although I might need to buy a broad nib now. You know, for science.

The TWSBI 580 is a fantastic pen that I highly recommend. It's Brad's #1 pick for the "Top 5 Fountain Pens $50-$100" category, and it performs at a much higher bracket if you ask me. With that in mind, this BLS nib grind takes the 580 to another level of bliss. If you're in the market for a TWSBI, check out Mr. Brown's selection, or send him a pen of your own to try out some of that buttery goodness.

TWSBI Diamond 580AL Fountain Pen Giveaway

Image via JetPens.com

You know JetPens is now carrying TWSBI fountain pens, right? One of my favorite pens at one of my favorite shops - finally! To celebrate the occasion I am giving away a TWSBI 580AL with an extra fine nib to one lucky reader.

Here is how to enter:

1. Leave one comment on this post anytime between now, and Saturday night at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. You are limited to one entry. This contest is open to US and International readers.

2. For this contest, I will pick one winner at random from the comments section of this post. The comments will be numbered in the order they are received, i.e. the first comment is #1, the second #2, and so on. The Random Integer Generator at random.org will be used to pick the number of the winner.

3. The contest winner will be posted on Sunday, May 10th. The winner will have one week to email me via the Contact link at the top of the page.

Thanks and good luck!