Talk:Quill

Image
The photograph here is not really of a quill, but of a feather attached to a metal nib. Does anyone have a picture of a quill that could be put here? -- Constantine Evans, 01:12, 3 August 2005

Does anyone know around what year the quill pen was invented? -- 68.234.88.95, 22:25, 19 December 2005

pioner days -- 168.184.248.53, 16:10, 6 December 2006

Contradiction
Was left preferred or was it cheaper?

Feather
There is no citation as to how a quill looked in the past. Therefore, it is opinion only. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.174.128.107 (talk) 06:25, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Peacock feathers
These were/still are popular in many cultures today. The article could do well to cite that, along with lots of other feather varieties Uranometria (talk) 17:44, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
 * To my knowledge, the ones currently listed (Goose, swan, crow/raven, eagle, owl, hawk and turkey) were the most commonly noted because they are the most useful (being of the preferable size and structure used to write, when taken from the correct part of the bird’s wing). Not every feather, even from the right kind of bird, makes a good quill per se; this is probably why any peacock quill pen I’ve ever seen myself are misnamed dip pens (i.e., they are quill feathers with a metal nib apparatus attached somehow). A quill pen made with a peacock quill probably doesn’t write too well, though I suppose I’ve only tried once, with a store-bought feather which was quite frankly not suited for the job....
 * ...time to go find the nearest peacock farm :V -BRPXQZME (talk) 00:32, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Quill Picture
I actually own a quill, made from a goose feather. I could take a picture of it and post it, since the current picture isn't of an authentic one.

--Skydude176 (talk) 22:10, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Metal pens
This article and the one on Pens both cite an 1810 date for the invention of metal nibs; but that seems only to be the date of the first American patent. Historical references suggest early versions of metal pens were around in the 17th century, and metal nibs were certainly in use in England by the late 18th - does anyone have authoritative info on their development?RLamb (talk) 17:52, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

How to make a quill pen
This article needs at least a link to instructions on how to make (trim) a quill. Would be better if these instructions were included in this article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.96.62.104 (talk) 18:52, 18 November 2012 (UTC)

Left vs right quills
It seems to me the person missed the point. It's not whether left or right quills were marketed to left or right hand writers, it's that a left quill was supposedly more inconvenient for a RIGHT HAND writer, which was all writers, as he points out. Also, if the difference is an "urban legend" as another suggested, I'd like to see more proof. .45Colt 23:13, 7 February 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by .45Colt (talk • contribs)

Tips tips tips and more tips
This article needs tips from different angles, and close up, and maybe even how the cuts are made. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 13:33, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Hollywood invention?
Why do we assert that pictures of quill pens with the feathers still attached are a "Hollywood" invention, when numerous paintings that predate "Hollywood" show quill pens with lavish feathers? It is quite possible that, for ceremonial use, lavish feathers were the norm; regardless, to ascribe the depiction of feathers as a "Hollywood" invention is erroneous.

Wording in Uses Section
In the Uses section the page mentions that quills were used to write the vast majority of medieval manuscripts including the Magna Carta and Declaraion of Independence, but those aren't considered medieval manuscripts are they? (Ericfood (talk) 05:18, 14 October 2019 (UTC))

Is Wood Paper Really a Problem?
I haven't seen anything else about wood-based papers wearing quills out any faster than historical paper. Does anyone know where this comes from? Intellectualrunoff (talk) 09:34, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

quill pen
what 3 regions would the quill pen be more useful for them and why. 2600:6C52:763F:D4D5:DC1B:EB60:AEA4:A1E3 (talk) 18:09, 1 November 2023 (UTC)

Source material for consideration
In A Century in Print London: Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd (1939) by Keefe, H. J., on pg. 165 Keefe writes (and I have pasted it here because I cannot find an electronic version of this book),


 * "The writer of this history sought out one of the last makers of quill pens left, Mr. R. Doran,[1] of Murray Grove, Shoreditch.
 * [1] Mr. Doran gave the author much interesting information about the almost extinct craft of quill-pen making. Hazell's have allowed this to be recorded here before it vanishes from living memory. Swan, goose, turkey, duck, and crow quills arc used. Goose quills were formerly most in demand. They came from St. Petersburg and Riga, graded by the exporters. Grading is called lothing, pronounced loting (German Loth, half-ounce). A loth is a measure of weight of a bundle containing a given number of quills. A quill in a bundle weighing 24 loths is called a 24-loth pen. Quills of five to eight loths are used for toothpicks and as holders for artists' brushes. Quills from nine loths upwards are suitable for pens; goose quills go up to eighteen loths, but swans, which start at twelve loths, go up to twenty-six.
 * Queen Victoria used a swan quill pen of twenty-five loths, and Mr. Doran had frequently to make pens ordered to be "the same as the Queen's." Swan-quill pens were usually left "full feather." Those from other birds had the feather stripped from the broad side, the narrow side being left untouched. Full-feather pens were used by Irving in his stage productions, and are still chosen for films and plays because they are more showy. King Edward VII used a Hudson Bay pen, that is, one from the wings of a North American wild goose, which is nearly as black as a crow.
 * The first process in making a pen requires a dutching tool, a large iron implement which one would expect to see in a forge. The quill is placed on a heated steel plate, and the dutching tool, also heated, is worked up and down it to clarify it. The quill, after being again heated, hardens when cool. Dirt is removed by rubbing with a piece of fish skin, and the quill is then ready for cutting with a special knife.
 * Were it not for Lloyd's, who occasionally order a thousand pens at a time from Mr. Doran's employer, and a small demand among artists who use quills for texting, this old craftsman, who belongs to the days when quill-pen making required a seven years' apprenticeship, would have almost entirely ceased his activities."

Christopher Rath (talk) 01:02, 4 December 2023 (UTC)


 * A copy is now available here: https://archive.org/details/a-century-in-print-the-story-of-hazells-1839-1939-h.-j.-keefe-1939 Christopher Rath (talk) 16:01, 24 December 2023 (UTC)