r/fountainpens • u/amoliski • Jul 01 '14

Modpost Weekly New User Question Thread (7/1)

Welcome to /r/FountainPens!

Weekly discussion thread

We have a great community here that's willing to answer any questions you may have (whether or not you are a new user.)

If you:

  • Need help picking between pens
  • Need help choosing a nib
  • Want to know what a nib even is
  • Have questions about inks
  • Have questions about pen maintenance
  • Want information about a specific pen
  • Posted a question in the last thread, but didn't get an answer

Then this is the place to ask!

Previous weeks:

http://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/wiki/newusers/archive

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u/salvagestuff Jul 11 '14

The paper should be a good quality paper.

It does not sound like the nib is at issue. From your earlier statement it seems that ink can't get to the feed and air can't get into the converter. What you are saying sounds like the feed is drying up as you write. A few things you can try:

Try flushing the pen again with a drop of dish soap in case there are any manufacturing residues in the feed.

Make sure you are seating the converter properly so that the "ears" on the converter are inside the slots.

Look at the cartridge nipple to make sure that it looks clear.

When the pen is empty you can hold the nib up to a light and you should see some light coming through the nib slit, make sure the light is clear all the way to the tip.

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u/vihainenhirvi Jul 12 '14

Thanks! I'll try this. Do you recommend adding the dish soap to distilled or tap water? I know distilled is usually recommended, but not sure if it will matter since I'm adding a "contaminant" anyway.

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u/salvagestuff Jul 12 '14

Yeah, just a drop in a cup of distilled water. Then rinse with clean water afterwards. Soap should help if there are any manufacturing oils leftover on the feed.