I have a great pen from lamy that I used for a could have years and really enjoyed. I found it a delight to write with and found it more consistent than ball point pens. Then I ran out of the prefilled ink cartridges it came with. I grabbed a refillable cartridge and some waterman ink and it has been downhill from there. I have two pens, not sure what the other one is, but neither seem to be able to write at all with the refills. They leak more often, constantly seem to dry out, and I have ended up going back to sharpie sgels because I need my pens to write when I need to write.
What am I doing wrong? Do I need better refill cartridges and if so can you recommend one, or are the cartridges really so much better? Or is there maintenance I am supposed to preform on the nib that I have neglected that could be causing my issues? Thanks for any advice, I would love to get back to using these pens.
Many, many years ago, I bought a fountain pen when I was in Japan, and got a refillable cartridge and pot of ink instead of carts. It was horrible. Just like you said—constantly leaking, wouldn't write, messy to fill, just awful. I lost that pen a long time ago and haven't touched a fountain pen again until this past spring when my wife got me a LAMY Safari, and I have only used prefilled carts in it with zero issues. So, sadly I can't help with your refillable cart, but I will tell you, being able to just swap out a cart and go is soooooo much better to me than pissing around with loose ink and faulty refill carts. Granted, I'm only writing/doodling/etc., and only in black, so I'm not swapping inks/colors, either. If I were using it for artwork or something special, then I'll take the time to piss around with all that.