# Nib holder question.



## Brandon25 (Jul 21, 2008)

I vaguely alluded to this in another thread, but didn't want to hijack it, so I'll ask here: My friend has a dip pen that came in a calligraphy set with nibs and ink from something like Time Life or whatever. Anyway, the pen handle (the main body of wood) is sad looking, crooked, etc. so I told her I would look into making her a dip pen. However, the info I've seen so far looks different than what she has.

What I understand so far is that the nibs are the different tips you take in and out to make different lines in calligraphy. The nib holder is what you stick the nibs into, and it stays in the wood permanently.

My question comes in that I have yet to see a holder like the one she has in her pen. It looks like a brass tube with three little brass tines or tangs or teeth that may or may not be spring-loaded? If you take the nib out, the teeth touch each other, even overlap. They spread out to accept the nib when you push the nib in. I think her nibs are flat on the top, not round.

I wouldn't mind using a regular nib holder except I think she'd have to buy all new nibs, which she would not do, I'm sure. Does anyone have any clue what I'm talking about with this type of nib holder, and if so, any info about where I can get one?

If I have no success, I may have to harvest the one from her current pen, but I'd hate to damage it in the process and leave her with no options.

Thanks in advance.

Brandon


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## DCBluesman (Jul 21, 2008)

Check out the pictures in my first post here and see if the holder looks to be the same.  It is a 1/4" standard.  http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2311


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## brycej (Jul 21, 2008)

Hi Lou, 

I just had a quick look at your web site and I didn't see these in the "For Pen Makers" section. Are they somewhere else on your site?


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## DCBluesman (Jul 21, 2008)

brycej said:


> Hi Lou,
> 
> I just had a quick look at your web site and I didn't see these in the "For Pen Makers" section. Are they somewhere else on your site?



Oops!  They should be there now.


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## Brandon25 (Jul 21, 2008)

DCBluesman said:


> Check out the pictures in my first post here and see if the holder looks to be the same.  It is a 1/4" standard.  http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2311



Sorry Lou, but I didn't see a clear image of what I'm looking for. A google image search doesn't find it either. Like I said, it looks like 3 or 4 metal "fingers" that hold the nib when you stick it into the holder. Is that standard? The holders I see online here all seem to be just an empty metal tube that holds the nibs by what I suppose is a friction fit?


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## DCBluesman (Jul 21, 2008)

Brandon - Four "fingers" in the insert hold the nib.  I feel confident that the insert is the one you are looking for.


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