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Quill
A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen/metal-nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen.
As with the earlier reed pen (and later dip pen), a quill has no internal ink reservoir and therefore needs to periodically be dipped into an inkwell during writing. The hand-cut goose quill is rarely used by modern calligraphers, however, it is still the tool of choice for a few scribes who claim the quills provide an unmatched sharp stroke as well as greater flexibility than a steel pen.[citation needed]
The shaft of a flight feather is long and hollow, making it an obvious candidate for being crafted into a pen. The process of making a quill from a feather involves curing the shaft to harden it, then fashioning its tip into a nib using a pen knife or other small cutting tool.
A quill pen is in effect a hollow tube which has one closed end, and has one open end at which part of the tube wall extends into a sharp point and has in it a thin slit leading to this point.
The hollow shaft of the feather (the calamus) acts as an ink reservoir and ink flows to the tip through the slit by capillary action.
In a carefully prepared quill, the slit does not widen through wetting with ink and drying. It will retain its shape adequately, requiring only infrequent sharpening; it can be used repeatedly until little of it remains.
The strongest quills come from the primary flight feathers discarded by birds during their annual moult. Although some have claimed that feathers from the left wing are better suited to right-handed writers because the feather curves away from the sight line, over the back of the hand, the quill barrel is cut to six or seven inches in length so no such consideration of curvature or 'sight-line' is necessary. Additionally, writing with the left hand in the era in which the quill was popular was discouraged, and quills were never sold as left- and right-handed, only by their size and species.
Goose feathers are most commonly used; scarcer, more expensive swan feathers are used for larger lettering. Depending on availability and strength of the feather, as well as quality and characteristic of the line wanted by the writer, other feathers used for quill-pen making include those from the crow, eagle, owl, turkey, and hawk too. Crow feathers were particularly useful as quills when fine work, such as accounting books, was required. Each bird could supply only about 10 to 12 good-quality quills.
Hub AI
Quill AI simulator
(@Quill_simulator)
Quill
A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen/metal-nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen.
As with the earlier reed pen (and later dip pen), a quill has no internal ink reservoir and therefore needs to periodically be dipped into an inkwell during writing. The hand-cut goose quill is rarely used by modern calligraphers, however, it is still the tool of choice for a few scribes who claim the quills provide an unmatched sharp stroke as well as greater flexibility than a steel pen.[citation needed]
The shaft of a flight feather is long and hollow, making it an obvious candidate for being crafted into a pen. The process of making a quill from a feather involves curing the shaft to harden it, then fashioning its tip into a nib using a pen knife or other small cutting tool.
A quill pen is in effect a hollow tube which has one closed end, and has one open end at which part of the tube wall extends into a sharp point and has in it a thin slit leading to this point.
The hollow shaft of the feather (the calamus) acts as an ink reservoir and ink flows to the tip through the slit by capillary action.
In a carefully prepared quill, the slit does not widen through wetting with ink and drying. It will retain its shape adequately, requiring only infrequent sharpening; it can be used repeatedly until little of it remains.
The strongest quills come from the primary flight feathers discarded by birds during their annual moult. Although some have claimed that feathers from the left wing are better suited to right-handed writers because the feather curves away from the sight line, over the back of the hand, the quill barrel is cut to six or seven inches in length so no such consideration of curvature or 'sight-line' is necessary. Additionally, writing with the left hand in the era in which the quill was popular was discouraged, and quills were never sold as left- and right-handed, only by their size and species.
Goose feathers are most commonly used; scarcer, more expensive swan feathers are used for larger lettering. Depending on availability and strength of the feather, as well as quality and characteristic of the line wanted by the writer, other feathers used for quill-pen making include those from the crow, eagle, owl, turkey, and hawk too. Crow feathers were particularly useful as quills when fine work, such as accounting books, was required. Each bird could supply only about 10 to 12 good-quality quills.
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