How to Create a Quill Pen

For the Times when You Want the World to Slow Down

Have you heard the story about the teacher who switched her students ballpoint pens to quill pens? The experiment resulted in the students writing slower concentrating more and giving them better penmanship. It made me think of my own quill pen and how I sometimes use it whenever I want the world to slow down. When I write with my quill pen, I think of of our forefathers as well as my favorite writers and poets. This article will show you how to cut a feather into a quill pen.

What you will need to create your quill pen:

A feather
A knife
Scissors
A ruler

You can purchase a bag of Indian feathers (made from Taiwan or China) at any hobby shop. The artificial feather looks softer, fuller and look prettier as you write with your new-feather pen. The goal is to make a very fine tipped quill pen that will write four or five lines of text at a time.

Preparation:

Temper you feather-

The reason to temper your feather is to give the nib more resilience and toughness. It will let you write four or five lines of text at a time. The feather will last for several pages per sharpening as well. There are two techniques that work good with different results with different material strengths. They change the cutting technique of the tube at the bottom of the feather.

The first technique to temper your feather is to fill a soup can full of sand that will cover the bare area of the feather shaft. Put the can in the toaster oven for 350 degrees. Take it out. Place your feather nib inside the can, keeping it in until the sand grows cold. The heat changes the nib from transparent to opaque, which makes it harder and more brittle allowing the splitting technique to be easier.

The second technique to temper is to soak the nib in water overnight. The transparent nib
will turn opaque and stick it in the sand. I don't recommend this technique because it will make the nib less brittle and more flexible. It will also become impossible to cut.