This is something that has come up several times. It seems to have been pretty much narrowed down to the centerband as being the culprit. Human hands don't exactly go together straight. Make two fists like you are gripping two items. Now you bring your two fists together as if you are going to smash your two thumbs together. If you are doing this as a natural fluid movement, each hand is going to arc together. The movement is not parrallel. Therefore, the side of the nib hits the side of the centerband and as you twist, that's a fine scratch ring. Only way to completely stop that from happening is to put the pen completely straight together every single time..good luck with that. I can't recall who..Curtis maybe, or perhaps George..someone had a partial solution. They used cualking inside the centerband, because there is a little bit of a lip in there. By running a small bead of caulk inside the rim of the centerband, you reduce the metal/metal contact and an added bonus is that the pen stays closed better. It is like putting a washer on a nib section, but better, because the "washer" is inside the coupler so that it can't be seen.
