Yesterday, my 10-year-old son got a Bulow fountain pen he had ordered. It’s the blue one in the pic. He had been inspired, I suppose, by my affection for the yellow Sheaffer from the ’80s that I rediscovered back in November and have been using daily.

My Sheaffer has cartridges and writes very smoothly and consistently. His Bulow has to be refilled from a bottle of ink, which I did yesterday. His writes well, too, once it gets started. However, unlike mine, if you pause for a minute or two and return to writing, there’s no ink and it takes a shake or two to get it going again.

Is this just par for the course with non-cartridge-type fountain pens, or am I doing something wrong?

I want his first fountain pen to be a good experience.

Thanks.