Fountain Pens
Fountain pen starter kits: build one that works
Boxed sets sell you a pen, a converter and a bottle. The part that decides whether any of it works is the part they leave out.
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Search for a fountain pen starter kit and you get boxed sets: a pen, a converter, a handful of cartridges, sometimes a bottle of ink. They are convenient, they are reasonably priced, and almost none of them include paper.
That omission is not incidental. Paper is bulky, it is low margin, and it is the component the seller is least likely to make. It is also the component that decides whether the rest of the kit produces a crisp line or a fuzzy one.
Quick picks
Ranked for the beginner buying their first setup. Every pick names who it is wrong for.
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No image Pilot Metropolitan A brass-bodied pen with a nib far better than the price suggests, and the one most consistently handed to beginners. | The default first pen | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 2 | No image Pilot CON-40 converter The screw converter that fits the widest range of Pilot pens, including the ones with narrow barrels. | Bottled ink in a Metropolitan or Kakuno | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 3 | No image Waterman Serenity Blue, 50 ml The ink most often recommended as a first bottle because it is well behaved on ordinary paper and washes out of a pen easily. | The safest first bottle | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 4 | No image Clairefontaine 1951 A5, lined 90 g/m2 vellum in a stapled softcover, which is the cheapest place to find paper this good. | The best paper per dollar | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
| 5 | No image Rhodia No. 16 dot pad, A5 A stapled pad of the same paper as the notebooks, cheap enough that ruining a page costs nothing. | Drafting, testing inks and throwing pages away | Check price on Amazon #ad No live price right now. How this is funded |
1. The default first pen
Pilot Metropolitan
A brass-bodied pen with a nib far better than the price suggests, and the one most consistently handed to beginners.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
The brass body is the reason this pen feels like it costs more than it does. It gives the pen weight in the hand and a cold, solid grip section, which is the single thing most people notice moving up from a plastic school pen.
The nib is a Japanese Fine. That matters more than the letter suggests: Japanese grades run narrower than German ones, so a Pilot Fine lays a line closer to what a European maker would call extra fine. If you write small or on thin paper, that narrowness is doing you a favor.
The catch is filling. The Metropolitan takes Pilot's own cartridges, not the international standard ones every other brand shares, and the converter you need to use bottled ink is a separate purchase.
| Nib grades offered | Fine and Medium (stub also sold separately)Source: Pilot Metropolitan, Fine (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Nib width in mm | Not publishedPilot does not state a millimeter width for the Metropolitan nib in this listing. Japanese Fine runs narrower than a German Fine — see the nib size guide. |
| Body | Brass barrel, painted finishSource: Pilot Metropolitan, Fine (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Filling | Pilot proprietary cartridge, or a Pilot CON-40 / CON-70 converter (sold separately)Source: Pilot CON-40 converter (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| In the box | Pen with one black ink cartridge and a squeeze converterSource: Pilot Metropolitan, Fine (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Brass body at a plastic-pen price
- Japanese Fine nib puts down a narrow, controlled line
- Extremely widely stocked, so replacements and spares are easy
What it does not
- Proprietary Pilot cartridges, not the international standard
- Converter is sold separately
- The painted finish scuffs if you pocket-carry it with keys
Skip this if you want to use bottled ink on day one without a second purchase, or if you already know you prefer a broad, wet line.
2. Bottled ink in a Metropolitan or Kakuno
Pilot CON-40 converter
The screw converter that fits the widest range of Pilot pens, including the ones with narrow barrels.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
Pilot sells several converters and they are not interchangeable. The CON-40 is the small one that fits nearly everything; the CON-70 holds far more but only fits wider pens.
The CON-40 has agitator balls inside it, which look like a defect and are not — they stop ink clinging to the walls.
If you own a Metropolitan and want to use a bottle, this is the part.
| Type | Screw-type converterSource: Pilot CON-40 converter (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Fits | Pilot fountain pens that take the CON-40, including the Metropolitan and KakunoSource: Pilot CON-40 converter (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Capacity | Not published |
| Larger alternative | The CON-70, for pens with a wider barrelSource: Pilot CON-70 converter (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Fits the widest range of Pilot pens
- Cheap enough to buy two
- Screw fitting will not fall out
What it does not
- Small capacity
- Not interchangeable with the CON-70
- Pilot does not publish the capacity
Skip this if your Pilot takes the larger CON-70 — buy that instead and get double the ink.
3. The safest first bottle
Waterman Serenity Blue, 50 ml
The ink most often recommended as a first bottle because it is well behaved on ordinary paper and washes out of a pen easily.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
A first bottle should be forgiving in two ways: it should behave on the cheap paper you already own, and it should rinse out without a fight when you want to change color. Serenity Blue is chosen for both.
It is a straightforward dye ink with no shimmer, no pigment and no unusual additives. That is exactly what you want while you are still learning which problems are the pen, which are the ink and which are the paper.
Waterman does not publish a drying time or a water-resistance figure for it, and neither does anyone else selling it, so we do not quote one.
| Format | 50 ml bottleSource: Waterman Serenity Blue (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Type | Dye-based, for refillable fountain pensSource: Waterman Serenity Blue (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Published drying time | Not published |
| Published water resistance | Not published |
What it does well
- Easy to flush out of a pen when changing colors
- Standard dye ink with no unusual additives to complicate diagnosis
- Widely stocked, so it is easy to replace
What it does not
- Not water resistant — a wet page is a lost page
- The color is deliberately unremarkable
- No published performance figures of any kind
Skip this if you need writing that survives water, or if you want the ink itself to be the interesting part of the setup.
4. The best paper per dollar
Clairefontaine 1951 A5, lined
90 g/m2 vellum in a stapled softcover, which is the cheapest place to find paper this good.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
This is the paper that makes the case on its own. 90 g/m2 coated vellum is the benchmark the rest of the market is measured against, and here it comes in a stapled book that costs less than a takeout lunch.
The softcover is the compromise. It will not survive being thrown in a bag for a year the way a hardcover will.
If you want to know whether your bleed-through problem is the ink or the paper, buy one of these and write the same page again. The answer is usually immediate.
| Paper weight | 90 g/m2 white velvet vellumSource: Clairefontaine 1951 A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Maker's claim | Remarkable opacity and strengthThe maker's own wording on its listing.Source: Clairefontaine 1951 A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Size and extent | 5 3/4" x 8 1/4", 96 pages, linedSource: Clairefontaine 1951 A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Binding | Staplebound softcoverSource: Clairefontaine 1951 A5 (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Published 90 g/m2 weight at a very low price
- The reference paper for fountain pen use
- Cheap enough to keep several
What it does not
- Softcover, so it wears in a bag
- 96 pages goes quickly
- Slow drying, like all coated paper
Skip this if you need a book that survives daily carry — buy the clothbound version instead.
5. Drafting, testing inks and throwing pages away
Rhodia No. 16 dot pad, A5
A stapled pad of the same paper as the notebooks, cheap enough that ruining a page costs nothing.
#ad No live price right now. How this is funded
A pad is the right first purchase for testing. You can write the same sentence with four inks, compare the show-through on the back, and bin the page without guilt.
It is the same paper family as the hardcover books, so what you learn on the pad transfers.
Perforated pages tear out cleanly, which makes it the natural notepad for anything you intend to hand to somebody.
| Size | A5, 6" x 8 1/4"Source: Rhodia No16 A5 dot pad (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
|---|---|
| Ruling | Dot gridSource: Rhodia No16 A5 dot pad (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
| Paper weight | Not published |
| Binding | Head-stapled pad with a micro-perforated tear lineSource: Rhodia No16 A5 dot pad, black (retail listing, read 2026-09-01) |
What it does well
- Cheapest way to try good paper
- Micro-perforated for clean tear-out
- Same coated paper family as the books
What it does not
- Not a permanent record — pages come loose
- No published paper weight
- The orange cover is not to everyone's taste
Skip this if you want a journal you will keep — a stapled pad is a working surface, not an archive.
Why a converter and not just cartridges
Cartridges are genuinely fine, and if you only ever use them nothing bad happens. But a converter costs about as much as two packs of cartridges and pays for itself immediately, and it opens up a color range that no cartridge maker comes close to matching.
The catch is that converters are not universal. The compatibility guide lists which converter fits which pen; get this wrong and you own a part that will not go in.
Why a pad as well as a notebook
The pad is the thing that makes the notebook usable. New fountain pen owners are noticeably reluctant to write in a good notebook, because the first page of anything feels permanent. A cheap pad of the same paper family removes that: you can test an ink, compare two nibs, write the same sentence four times and throw the page away.
What a boxed set gets right
Two things, and they are worth acknowledging. It guarantees the converter fits the pen, which removes the most common ordering mistake. And it usually costs less than the same items bought separately.
If you buy one, buy the paper at the same time. That single addition turns a set that will probably disappoint into one that will not.
A kit for someone else
Buying this as a gift changes one thing: you cannot ask about their handwriting, so default to a Fine nib and a pen that does not impose a grip. That rules out the LAMY Safari, excellent as it is, because a molded triangular grip section is a strong opinion to give someone unasked.
Questions people actually ask
What should be in a fountain pen starter kit?
A pen with a fine nib, a converter that fits it, a bottle of ordinary ink, a notebook with paper that can take it, and a cheap pad to practice on. The paper is the piece boxed sets usually omit and the piece that matters most.
Are fountain pen starter sets worth buying?
They are convenient and usually cheaper than buying the parts separately, and they guarantee the converter fits the pen. Just add paper — almost none of them include any.
What is a good fountain pen gift for a beginner?
A Pilot Metropolitan in Fine, a bottle of Waterman Serenity Blue, and a Clairefontaine notebook. Avoid pens with a molded grip section as a gift, because a fixed hand position is a strong preference to impose on someone you cannot ask.
Do I need special paper for a fountain pen?
Not special, but better than average. 90 gsm coated paper handles almost any pen and ink combination; 70 gsm uncooated paper will show through and may bleed. The GSM guide explains the numbers.