Tell me about it. I've wasted so many fancy pens on that exact same stuff. My last fountain pen just skipped and bled through like crazy. Switched to a cheap gel pen from the grocery store and it was smooth sailing, no smudging at all. It's wild how the simplest thing works best sometimes.

My buddy had the same problem with his filter clogging every twenty minutes. He started giving the filter a good smack against the side of his dumpster after each use, knocks a ton of the fine dust loose. He also runs the extractor for a minute after he's done, with the sander off, to clear the hose. Seems to buy him a lot more time between cleanouts.

Thought it was dumb until a bear sniffed around my tent.

Honestly thought hot mud was hype until I tried it.

My old metal one bent for good on a thick burger last summer.