# Dip Pens



## Dolphinjon (May 15, 2014)

Howdy!
Thanks to some travel and then a really busy season at work, I haven't had much time to turn or to be on the forums. We have a new boss, and she wants to start doing a program with kids on journaling as that was a very important activity to the Shakers. She did something similar at another museum, and they used dip pens and India ink. They started it because they had tons of unused dip pens laying around.
So my question is, how hard is it to turn a dip pen? And what do you need? And more importantly, is there a place where I can just buy a whole bunch of dip pen holders so I don't have to make a large number of them? We are probably talking 40+ dip pens. oh! And nibs! Where do you find nibs for them? The main place I've found so far is Speedball Standard Point Dip Pen Nibs - BLICK art materials
I've made fountain pens (mainly Baron and Pressimo kits), but I'm figuring dip pens are different. As we are a non-profit, we are trying to keep the cost pretty minimal.
Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I tried searching the forums, but didn't come up with much that was helpful.


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## monophoto (May 15, 2014)

I used to have several holders for dip pens - probably put them in a safe place since I haven't seen them in years.  

Nib holders are really very simple.  The ones that I had were spindles with a hole in the end for the nib to fit into.  I believe that there was an insert of some sort in the hole so that the nib had to slide between the insert and the barrel.  If you look closely at the photos on the Blick site, their house brand holder seems to be just a spindle with a hole in the end - I suspect the idea is that the diameter of the hole is ever so slightly less than the diameter of the back end of the nib, so the nib is held in by friction.  

I haven't seen any dip pen components marketed for pen turners (but I haven't looked for anything either).  But in looking at the Blick site, it seems to me that nibs sell for less than a dollar in quantity, and plastic holders are less than 50 cents.  Frankly, I doubt that you could beat that price to any significant degree, even if you made the barrels from scrap wood.


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## Whaler (May 15, 2014)

I have bought all of my dip pen parts from The Golden Nib Dip Pens : Fountain Pen parts - NIBS, - Wholesale Fountain Pen Ink - Golden Nib AZ


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## its_virgil (May 15, 2014)

I get them from Anthony also. Exotic Blanks had them at one time but not sure they still carry them.
Do a good turn daily!
Don



Whaler said:


> I have bought all of my dip pen parts from The Golden Nib Dip Pens : Fountain Pen parts - NIBS, - Wholesale Fountain Pen Ink - Golden Nib AZ


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## Dolphinjon (May 15, 2014)

Thanks for all of the quick replies. I'm betting some staff won't like the idea of using plastic holders, but I like the idea of $0.50 each. I found some on their website in black and they look a bit nicer, but they cost about 3X as much. I'm figuring cheaper is better for kids


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## Dan_F (May 18, 2014)

You can buy vintage dip pen nibs by the gross on EBay for a fraction of what you would spend on new ones purchased individually. Just look for full boxes. 

This looks like a good deal, has the turned up tip which makes them a little smoother, easier for youngsters who may not have a light touch to use.

Vintage Turner Harrison No 506 Bowl Point DIP Pen Nibs 1 Gross | eBay

Dan


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## BRobbins629 (May 18, 2014)

I get nibs from:

Scribblers Calligraphy and Illustration Supplies

and metal inserts that fit 7 mm tubes or 1/4" hole if tubeless from:

http://www.stilesandbates.co.uk/product.php/section/0/sn/LCALIG_MST


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