Hello all,

I'm extremely new to fountain pens and their use. I got a wild hair a few weeks ago that I wanted to learn to use one and today I bought what I'm pretty sure is a very cheap pen since I don't see it's brand talked about anywhere on here but I hope it will give me at least a start into the world of fountain pen use. It is made by a company called Yafa and cost less than $20. But as a college student I really couldn't afford to spend alot on a pen that I might not be able to learn to use properly.

Anyway, I do have a question. I unpackaged the pen and put in it's first cartridge (international small, I think) and after a horribly long time of scribbling on a piece of paper got it to start writing. It writes really smooth and I'm thrilled with that. The ink color is a bit gray rather than black for my taste but I think I can solve that with a different ink in the next cartridges I buy. I stopped writing for just a little while, with the cap on and sitting upright. When I went back to use it again I have now spent a good 45 minutes trying to get the pen writing again. Is this normal? If it is I don't know why people want to deal with it! I read on a website that sometimes you have to dip them in water to get them started and I tried that. It actually seems to have done the trick since I acutally was able to start ink flowing again. I checked several times to see that the cartridge was seated properly, took it off and looked to see that the cartridge really had ink in it, tried the squeezing of the cartridge like the Yafa website said to do, and wrote and wrote with no ink flow to get it started like the card the pen came with said. Have I tried everything? I am hoping that this is just a new pen issue that will resolve itself and that I don't have to keep dipping it in water to start writing everytime.

Please someone with more experience than me, which is all of you I am sure, some input would be great!!!!!!!!

Thanks in advance!!

Welcome to the pen madness. I've seen pen for 1 euros that wrote like a marvel, so price is no an issue.
Your pen might need to be clean... once clean, it should work a lot better.
You really don't need to spend a lot of money, you can find amazing pen like the Pelikano, Lamy Safari, Pilot 78g, Hero for almost nothing and they are all great performers.
I've never used a Yafa pen, but I'm sure it will do the job. A good pen should start every time it touches paper.

Good luck and enjoy

Samovar

Sometimes if a pen won't start the way it should, wet the nib and grab it with a bit of paper towel. The ink should bleed into the towel and start the whole system going. That usually does the trick. Be careful not to wipe the nib with the towel, lest you snag the nib and pick up unwanted lint which could clog the works!

Welcome to FPN from Kentucky!!!

I'll go along with Samovar and playpen. Maybe the nib just needs to be cleaned. If that won't do it, then maybe take it back and try another.

Thanks for the suggestions! I really appreciate it!

I have tried running water and it did start back up with writing much quicker this time. So now I am waiting a while to see if it will start again after a rest.

I am absolutely amazed at how smooth and easy on the hand the fountain pen writes! Once I work out the kinks I think this is definately going to be one of my favorite writing instruments.

Thanks again for the suggestions and words of wisdom.

Welcome from NC!

Welcome to FPN and good luck. Fountain pen use causes fountain pen lust! Once you use the pen you must acquire more. It is a never ending story and you well eventually have many more pens with which to write.

And so it begins.

Welcome to FPN.................