Well, I gotta tell you, I buy about 90% from Woodturningz and they are a great bunch of guys so this does not reflect on them in anyway. I bought a PSI Euro kit in copper, then I put it on a very nice snakewood blank. Now I carry my daily pen in my shirt pocket and while I use it all day, it is not abused and kicked around. After 2 weeks I had enough nicks that I was not pleased with the look. The biggest problem is that the copper darkens when it chips and is very noticable. I was able to save the blank and I ordered a Rhodium to replace the hardware. You may have great luck, it may last forever... This is just my one experiance with the kit. A sleeve may very well keep it long lasting, but I would find that rather anoying.