Spring Tension

I stepped across the wooden surface, checking my foot placement before committing full balance. A black steel binder clip lay flat beside an amber glass ink bottle. I hooked two phalanges under its chrome wire loop and pressed downward. Significant resistance from the internal spring. With deliberate force, I depressed the lever until the jaws popped open and clamped shut onto a slip of scrap paper with a sharp snap. The vibration traveled cleanly through my radius and ulna. The mechanism operates within nominal tolerance.