Where to buy Hongdian 'soft' nib units/loose nibs?

[Mildmay89]

Hi fellow FPN users! Seeking your wisdom -

 

On a whim a while ago I purchased a Hongdian N12, so far my only experience of a 'soft' nib, and I'm very enamoured with the writing experience!

 

Does anyone know where I might buy soft nib units or the nibs, loose? Normal, relatively stiff Hongdian nib units are very easily found, but I can't find the soft nibs anywhere on Amazon, Ebay, Etsy or AliX - I've also tried 软尖 (which is my guess for soft nib) on the latter.

 

Hongdian are the only Chinese pen brand that produce soft nibs that I'm aware of, does anyone know of any others (and if they can be purchased as units/loose)?

 

Theoretically, buying more N12s and pulling the nibs are an option in principle, but rather wasteful (and uneconomical)!

Just in case anyone's curious what I'm trying to do - I heavily favour Japanese eyedropper-style pens and would like to swap a soft nib into one without depriving the N12 I already have. 

 

Thank you for reading!

[A Smug Dill]

I ordered mine on Taobao.

[Shanghai Knife Dude]

You got two options: 

 

1. an aftermarket soft nib from random nameless makers, depends on your locations. 

2. Stick with Hongdian. a seprated Soft Nib is availableon HD Taobao, but only shipping with in PRC. You will have to make request to those Traffickers on either Ali or Etsy for a soft.

 

I made a HD Nib Steel summary here: https://shanghaiknifedude.blogspot.com/2024/12/hongdian-steel-nib-generations.html#gsc.tab=0

 

here is my Gen IV in M from HD 1866. Pleasantly soft with a responsive feedback.  

 

[Mildmay89]

Thank you A Smug Dill and Shanghai Knife Dude ; this helped me directly. 

I really appreciate the community on this forum.

Although Hongdian's pen releases in 2024 were mixed, their nibs offerings are superb value.

[Shanghai Knife Dude]

On 1/18/2025 at 6:05 AM, Mildmay89 said:

Thank you A Smug Dill and Shanghai Knife Dude ; this helped me directly. 

I really appreciate the community on this forum.

Although Hongdian's pen releases in 2024 were mixed, their nibs offerings are superb value.

The challenge laying ahead for china pen gang is: from a village workshop to structural commerce entity. 

 

As of now, I see no evident trace of any existing companies with competence of such.

 

Developmet stage of Chinese pen at the moment is much like the Japanese beofre 1980s or earlier. Current "good value, best of buck" image of China pen mostly up to current over capacity of domestic resources starting from 2008. Pricing of Japanese pen is a perfect example of reasonable pricing under free market. 

 

There is only one Chinese maker, which shall remain nameless, is paving a structural landscape, but suffers from restrained resources (who doesn't?). 

 

Anyway, maybe the beauty of pen business is staying manageable small size with financial robust for a sustainable operation. Never a pen company even reach so.