This little tool can be a big help if you grind your own ink (which you should). As you grind your inkstick against the inkstone it gets shorter and shorter until too small to hold easily. That’s where this bit of bamboo comes in handy, providing a handle so you don’t waste ink by throwing away precious inkstick stubs. Just put the remaining inkstick between the two pieces of bamboo, insert the pin and slide it down the slot until pressure squeezes the bamboo tight around the inkstone.

This little clamp, called mojia 墨夾 in Chinese, is currently (April 2020) available from Blue Heron Arts or from Inkston Oriental Arts and Materials, in their accessories section.