An Old Quill Pen

Quill pens were once the writing instrument of choice during late antiquity until mass production of metal pens made from goose, swan, turkey and crow feathers emerged in large scale production. Their capillary action enabled writing with ease.

Clay tablets, wax pens or reed pens were more cumbersome to use than feather pens; their preparation consisted of immersing the shaft of a feather into hot ashes in order to harden it.

The Feather

Quill pens are made of the feathers of birds – typically goose feathers – and were popular throughout antiquity and the 19th century. Prior to quills being invented people wrote on clay tablets or wax tablets or used reed pens with ink; quill pens proved more convenient and lightweight compared with these methods of writing.

Scribes used them for writing texts into manuscripts and fine draftsmen used them for delineating images on manuscripts using capillary action – liquid automatically draws itself upward along a narrow tube.

To create a quill pen, begin with a fresh and flexible bird feather (preferably from a goose), soak it in hot or warm water for several hours so it can soften enough for writing, then use a knife known as a “pen knife” to cut into it – first creating an inkwell with two cuts; second creating a slit to hold ink within.

The Slit

Quill pens were first used in the 6th century and became the predominant writing instrument until metal pens entered mass production during the 19th. Constructed from feathers from geese, swans, turkeys or other large birds’ outer flight feathers, quill pens provided both an ink reservoir and capillary outlet at their tip tip for ink flow; used primarily to write manuscripts or important documents such as Magna Carta or Declarations of Independence.

Godey’s Lady Book article notes that even young ladies were expected to know how to construct or repair a quill pen when necessary, making making or mending one from scratch challenging but time consuming: quills had to be heated in hot sand or ashes until membranes, desiccation and hardening occurred, then carefully parred down using a pen knife into an effective writing point.

The Nib

Quill pen nibs create various strokes by applying different amounts of pressure; thick lines can be produced when too much force is applied to flexible tines that then widen and allow more ink through into the paper, while less pressure produces thinner strokes as the tines flex less.

The nib can also be bent downwards for very thin writing, while its slit allows you to control how much ink flows out through capillary action.

Quill pens first made an appearance during the early Middle Ages as an alternative to reed pens which quickly worn down and required constant sharpening. Used to pen important documents like Magna Carta and Declaration of Independence; Thomas Jefferson even raised geese at his estate to ensure he would always have enough quill pens available to write with!

The Inkwell

Quill pens operated via capillary action (the principle by which liquid automatically rises through thin tubes, similar to water in plants). A slit in the end of feather, which could be expanded with a knife into a nib, served as an ink reservoir when immersed into an inkwell made of glass, pottery, porcelain or metal and featured a lid to prevent contamination, evaporation and accidental spillage of ink.

Quill pens were used extensively from antiquity through to the 19th century when metal dip pens replaced them as the dominant form of writing instrument. Quills were used to sign important documents such as Magna Carta and Declaration of Independence – Thomas Jefferson even kept geese at Monticello just so he would always have quills available! Quill pens are still widely used today for calligraphy and technical drawing applications and their variety of strokes is determined by both angle and pressure applied when writing with one.