Quill Pen issues

[naes30]

HI,

 

This forum was recommended to me by a friend as a helpful resource on all things pen. As my friend has been incommunicado for some time and i have not been able to pick his brain i decided to see if you guys could help me. I have written with steel nib dip pens and have found them to be quite intriguing. I have very recently strayed into the realm of quill pens (so far only goose quill pens) and have found myself outside of my comfort zone. My major issue is that whenever i try and write with any semblance of speed, the pen splatters all over the paper. NOt in great big blobs, but rather in a fine almost dust-like manner. I find this an incredibly irksome habit and was just wondering if, perhaps, i was doing something improperly or was this simply the nature of quill pens.

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

-Naes

[BillTheEditor]

HI,

 

This forum was recommended to me by a friend as a helpful resource on all things pen. As my friend has been incommunicado for some time and i have not been able to pick his brain i decided to see if you guys could help me. I have written with steel nib dip pens and have found them to be quite intriguing. I have very recently strayed into the realm of quill pens (so far only goose quill pens) and have found myself outside of my comfort zone. My major issue is that whenever i try and write with any semblance of speed, the pen splatters all over the paper. NOt in great big blobs, but rather in a fine almost dust-like manner. I find this an incredibly irksome habit and was just wondering if, perhaps, i was doing something improperly or was this simply the nature of quill pens.

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

-Naes

My guess is that you are pressing down. A quill takes very little pressure. It is also possible that the quill is not cut right (tip too narrow -- cut a little off of it to fix). These are the two most likely causes. It may also be that the quill was not tempered (hardened) sufficiently before cutting, or that the slit was not cut correctly. Any of these (from what I recall) will result in the fine spray you describe. caliken will probably have better suggestions, though.

 

Added: This site may give you a lot of help and ideas http://www.flick.com/~liralen/quills/quills.html

 

Good luck!

Edited August 25, 2007 by BillTheEditor

[naes30]

Naes

My guess is that you are pressing down. A quill takes very little pressure. It is also possible that the quill is not cut right (tip too narrow -- cut a little off of it to fix). These are the two most likely causes. It may also be that the quill was not tempered (hardened) sufficiently before cutting, or that the slit was not cut correctly. Any of these (from what I recall) will result in the fine spray you describe. caliken will probably have better suggestions, though.

 

Added: This site may give you a lot of help and ideas http://www.flick.com/~liralen/quills/quills.html

 

Good luck!

 

 

Thanks for the quick response! I will try cutting a bit of the tip as that seems to be the most likely cause, as you say, after further inspection. Thanks again.

[Inky Pinky]

I used silica gel, heated in a microwave, to temper a turkey quill. Silica gel is commonly used as a preservative for flowers. A feather that naturally falls off the bird might not need to be tempered.

 

My teacher had me spend a lot of time sharpening the knife used to cut quills. It was sharpened with a coarse Arkansas stone, then a fine Arkansas stone. The stones were wet and soapy. A scrap piece of leather served as a strop. The knife itself had a fat handle and a short blade.

 

The sharp cuts of the quill were done on a piece of glass. I used a jeweler's eye loupe to examine the cuts.

 

 

[PAKMAN]

Thanks for the in-site into the actual task of creating Quill pens! How many different cuts does it take to create something that will write?

[Inky Pinky]

Attached is a scan of instructions from Dr. Eric Ray. Dr. Ray (now deceased) was a master sofer, which means that he was an expert scribe who wrote Jewish scripture documents. Make note of the steps to "tweak" up the nick for the ink canal.

 

If anyone has problems reading the attachment, I will try to flatten the sheet and rescan it.

 

quill.pdf