Fountain pens....am I doing something wrong?

[Kevan]

Darn you guys. First you enable me on a year and a half's worth of shaving stuff. Now I've gone and bought my first fountain pen from Todd at isellpens. Nice guy.

I got the silver Jinhao "Great Wall" pen and I must say I was unprepared when I opened the box. Packaging is amazing. Nice case, great extras. Jinhao really goes all out. Too bad I can't read any of it! The pen itself, while a little bling-y, is beautiful as well. Design and color on the barrel are amazing. This thing is kinda heavy too. With the cap posted it gives my hand a workout.

Anyway, here's where the problem comes in. I got Private Reserve ink cartridges because as a newb I didn't want to mess with bottled ink. I thought it would -- well -- make a mess. So I take out the converter thingy, put in a cartridge behind the nib with a satisfying *snap!*, put the pen back together and try to write.

And it didn't write, at least for five minutes. So I lay it down, go away, come back to it and suddenly, it wants to write. And boy does it write! Smooooooth, dark green lines. I'm floored. This thing is Niiiiice! I open up my journal and start a new entry, but at about the 4th line, I notice the color getting lighter and things aren't so smooth. Then it stops writing entirely. So I put it down again and come back to it. It's fine after a few minutes, but then starts producing thin, lighter lines AGAIN and now it hasn't written for a half hour.

Um, as a total newb, am I doing something wrong here? Am I not holding it right? Are ink cartridges temperamental? Is it the pen? This has me bummed.

Thanks guys.

 

[Vlad]

Not familiar with that pen, and I tend to worry about pens in that price point with that much 'bling.' But I would first check to see that it hasn't run through its ink supply or leaked out. It's not impossible that that particular ink doesn't have the right viscosity for that nib, and it's worth trying other inks, in cartridges or bottles.

What may be happening is the nib is not drawing ink quickly enough as you write (a lot), and it fills up when you let it sit.

 

[thebikingengineer]

It sounds like the feed isn't saturated. Try leaving it for a little while nib down to let the ink soak in. My hero took a bit to get going at first, but it writes like a champ now.

 

[Kevan]

Thanks for the tips; I'll be sure to leave it nib-down for awhile and see what happens. I opened it up and there's no leakage or anything like that so hopefully it's a feed-saturation issue.

The bit about the ink not being right for the pen worries me though, because how are you supposed to know? Take a shot in the dark I guess.

 

[Legion]

All my pens use bottled ink so I am not an expert on cartridges but I do recall that you might have to give them a little squeeze when you put in a new one? Just to push some ink into the feed? Someone else may be able to confirm.

When you are drawing ink through the nib the entire pen gets flushed with ink so it's pretty much ready from the get go.

My first fountain pen was a Jinhau X450. Still works like a champ, though I like finer line pens now.

 

[Kevan]

That worked! Thanks for the tip. Laying down a lot of ink now, and writing smooth as silk.

Here's what it looks like. Not as blingy as some Jinhao models but it sure looks stunning in person.

If I get another pen it will be a finer nib though.

 

[Yushiro]

Now that is a gorgeous looking pen. Here's a tip (actually 2 tips)

1. Whenever you get a new pen, especially a Chinese made pen, flush it. Helps with the flow quite a bit
2. If your fountain pen stops writing and you know there's still ink in it, touch the nib to a drop of water. Usually the pen will start writing again. If it still doesn't, flush the pen, re-fill it and try again.

Hope this helps

 

[Sousy]

1. Whenever you get a new pen, especially a Chinese made pen, flush it. Helps with the flow quite a bit

I'll ditto that - sometimes it seems that some of the lower-end pens will have manufacturing residue left (like the faint smell of machine oil) that you need to flush. Sometimes flushing with ink helps, sometimes a few draws of water with a small drop of detergent... then flushed and re-flushed with water... can help, too.

 

[SmoovD]

Now that is a gorgeous looking pen. Here's a tip (actually 2 tips)

1. Whenever you get a new pen, especially a Chinese made pen, flush it. Helps with the flow quite a bit
2. If your fountain pen stops writing and you know there's still ink in it, touch the nib to a drop of water. Usually the pen will start writing again. If it still doesn't, flush the pen, re-fill it and try again.

Hope this helps

+1. Sound advice.

 

[Doc4]

Darn you guys. First you enable me on a year and a half's worth of shaving stuff. ...

If you only have a year and a half worth of shaving supplies, we haven't done our jobs properly. Once you are counting in decades, then you can complain.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I also recommend flushing new pens. You'll want to put the converter back in, then use it to draw water out of a glass through the nib. That will pull water through the feed.

Don't be afraid of bottled inks, either. They're not messy, cost less and you have many more options.

 

[Doc4]

I also recommend flushing new pens. You'll want to put the converter back in, then use it to draw water out of a glass through the nib. That will pull water through the feed.

Don't be afraid of bottled inks, either. They're not messy, cost less and you have many more options.

Years ago I got a cheap-o Schaeffer (sp?) cartridge fountain pen & used it all through university ... really enjoyed that. It took the "old" larger cartridges, and Schaeffer went more to a newer thinner/smaller cartridge for its newer and fancier pens, so ink became hard to find and I lost interest.

Skip ahead a decade (and a bit ) and here I am at B&B, and getting into Pelikan pens with the injector filling method ... works great for a pen n00b, and I never have to worry about running out of ink in the middle of some urgent writing and having to try to replace a cartridge in under 20 seconds.

 

[brianw]

for the people like me who always seem to be running out of ink... I mostly use the pens as eyedroppers. They then hold a boatload of ink

 

[Isaac]

for the people like me who always seem to be running out of ink... I mostly use the pens as eyedroppers. They then hold a boatload of ink

I agree with Brian. I have to give a sort of endorsement here. My Edison Pearl bulb filler can hold about 3 days worth of ink with one filling with a good amount of use. I would look into that pen if your having ink issues

 

[Kevan]

Okay, so I assume "flushing" is running water through the body and nib of a disassembled pen? Do I do that when it runs out of ink again?

 

[Yushiro]

Okay, so I assume "flushing" is running water through the body and nib of a disassembled pen? Do I do that when it runs out of ink again?

Only if you're changing inks. If its the same ink, do a flush once a month.

A note on Eyedroppers tho, make sure you dab a thin film of silicone grease on the threads of the barrel. Helps ensure a leak-proof seal. Also, the cheap Pelikan Pelikano Jr pen makes an awesome eyedropper. Provided you seal up the two breather holes at the bottom of the barrel.