Hongdian 960

[mke]

I just got a new toy, the Hongdian 960. It looks "a bit" like a Pelikan. Size is probably similar to an M800.

And in contrast to Pelikan they have real EF nibs. It is a nice pen!

 

 

 

 

[PHHPHD]

I have two on the way.  A blue one such as your and a red one.  I am sampling the Fine and Extra Fine nibs for comparison. 

[Aysedasi]

Looks very nice.  I like the orange.  But I see (once again, to my chagrin) that there are only EF and F nibs available.   

[sansenri]

a Duofold with a Pelikan Clip!

OK, at least it's not a copy.

Looking good.

It's so similar to my Jinhao Centennial (cap excluded), I bet you can easily swap in a #6 Bock...

Might be another nice nib holder...

Thanks mke

[sansenri]

btw mke, what is your opinion on quality of threads for the cap? are they accurate?

Often one of the main quality flaws I encounter in these pens, that overall are quite good, is the quality of the threads, with cross threading at times, which is really annoying, or imprecision, wobbly cap, etc.

 

(I have a Moonman where cross threading is so bad, gets caught every single time I try to put the cap back on,  that practically makes me want to bin the pen...)

[mke]

@sansenri

I have never experienced a difficult to close/open pen from Hongdian - but I am not yet using them so long.

Btw., I am more and more using this pen - I am very much satisfied with it. So much that I also ordered the dark-red and the dark-green model.

From time to time, I have to adjust the ink level. I am using a dry ink - Waterman Serenity Blue. I think this adjusting will not be necessary with wetter ink.

 

Moonman should learn from Hongdian how to do quality control. A bit unfair as Hongdian has a lot of experience, being an OEM in the pen business. I guess the 1997 on the nib means the start of Hongdian.

 

 

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, mke said:

A bit unfair as Hongdian has a lot of experience, being an OEM in the pen business. I guess the 1997 on the nib means the start of Hongdian.

 

I very much doubt it. Zhejiang Lishui Lantian Pen Company started in 1997, but I don't think the HongDian brand — for which the company holds the trademark — existed five years ago. (The first use anywhere date is noted as 1 December 2016 in the HongDian trademark registration.)

[mke]

Oops, I forgot two important words: "Hongdian" should read "Hongdian mother company".

Thanks for the correction.

[A Smug Dill]

It's actually very unusual to see both the brand/trademark and the name of the company — where they differ — both being inscribed on the nib:

Source: HongDian

[Mech-for-i]

Actually not that uncommon on Chinese Founain Pen Mfr, that goes back a long way , I've had nib that read Guangui SIPF ( which the 2 part refering to the brand and the actual factory name ) , and equally I had Hero Guanleming nib ( on a Guanleming pen ) and there are similars dating all the wa back to the 50's and 60's and even seen pre war samples like that

[A Smug Dill]

9 minutes ago, Mech-for-i said:

Actually not that uncommon on Chinese Founain Pen Mfr,

 

OK, my exposure to Chinese fountain pens is quite limited to some HongDian, Picasso, Lingmo, PenBBS, Moonman, Delike, Wing Sung, Jinhao, Hero and Duke, and nothing particularly old among them. I defer to your collection and your experience.

[fabri00]

I also consider the Hongdian 960 a good pen.

It is relatively well made, and it fit well my hand, I like the design even if it visibly inspired to Pelikan, and the acrylic quality and color are nice to me.

The only question is how long the gold plating will hold, as this is one of the issues sometime with chinese pens.

I bought it in 3 colors, and I'll buy the other 2 soon.

[A Smug Dill]

8 minutes ago, fabri00 said:

The only question is how long the gold plating will hold, as this is one of the issues sometime with chinese pens.

 

I'm more concerned about the pen's ability to prevent/minimise ink evaporation when capped; never mind the pen's or nib's cosmetic condition.

[sansenri]

That's a good question ASD. Can other users here tell us if the pen has an inner cap?.

 

With the Jinhao Centennial (I recently bought so that I could transplant an Omas gold nib in it) I was warned that this might be an issue, but fortunately the Jinhao Centennial does have an inner cap and the pen section seems to seal well against it, in fact I have the pen inked since a couple of weeks now and it has never dried out or even hard started so far, which is a welcome achievement.

 

Having an inner cap is not a guarantee, but it's a promising start towards avoiding that issue.

[fabri00]

The 960 does not have an inner cap.

Howewer, mine is inked since about 2 weeks, and I do not ues it so much. In spite of that, the pen never dry.

So even without inner cap, apparently the drying is not a weak point for this pen.

[mke]

I have another Hongdian which had no problems with drying out - it is not inked now, therefore "had". I remember that I realized it started writing after 2-3 weeks without using it.

The Hongdian 517S

 

 

The black forest pen however did dry out more quickly. But not as fast as a similar black Hero pen.

[A Smug Dill]

1 hour ago, fabri00 said:

Howewer, mine is inked since about 2 weeks, and I do not ues it so much. In spite of that, the pen never dry.

 

My criterion is for a full converter of ink not to lose half or more of its volume through evaporation in six weeks, and not completely dry out in three months. Whether the pen hard-starts after a few days of not being used have a lot to do with the solvents in the particular ink. My HongDian model 1850 (Black Forest and Birch Forest pens) don't dry out or hard-start in two weeks, neither do my Kaigelu 316 pens, nor my Moonman 800 pens; but none of them will still be ‘writable’ after nine weeks from filling. (As in, in my first-hand experience, they were all >98% dried out in that time. Some of them would still write about four words with very dark and thick ink before ceasing.)

[mke]

> My criterion is for a full converter of ink not to lose half or more of its volume through evaporation in six weeks, and not completely dry out in three months.

Sorry, that is a criterion for people having too many pens (inked up). I would not require this from any pen producer. However, it is possible as my Japanese pens (Sailor, Pilot) show.

[A Smug Dill]

15 minutes ago, mke said:

I would not require this from any pen producer. However, it is possible as my Japanese pens (Sailor, Pilot) show.

 

My Aurora pens (at least the ones with screw-caps) and Pelikan pens also deliver on that front, as does my Rotring 400 in spite of having a snap-cap. Pens with spring-loaded inner caps (e.g. Platinum Preppy/Prefounte/Plaisir/Procyon, and various Fine Writing International models) will meet that criterion with no worries. The Opus 88 Picnic, too; having a shut-off valve probably helped it there.

 

18 minutes ago, mke said:

Sorry, that is a criterion for people having too many pens (inked up).

 

That's what happens when a user expects to have in excess of ten dozen different inks ready to write at a moment's notice. That's the primary reason why I have so many pens.

[sansenri]

10 hours ago, fabri00 said:

The 960 does not have an inner cap.

Howewer, mine is inked since about 2 weeks, and I do not ues it so much. In spite of that, the pen never dry.

So even without inner cap, apparently the drying is not a weak point for this pen.

thank you, useful to know