My latest pen acquisition (sort of)

[Laurie]

23080

Was not sure which forum to put this in. It will eventually be a dip nib pen so I suppose it is belongs here.

Anyway I posted a few months ago my intention to try and make myself a quill pen. Not a quill holder with a steel dip nib inserted but a quill that will be turned into a dip pen. Another member asked me to show the progress so here it is. As I said before I seem to be going backwards in my pen acquisitions. Going from modern pens, to dip nibs, to quills and eventually to a stone sheet with a chisel.

I kept my eye out for some quill the local swans etc may have discarded but could only find a few small ones which were just too small. So I saw an ad on Ebay for a set of ten quills from China. Cant remember the exact price but it was under $5 AUD posted. Still cant work out how they make a profit out of this. But anyway because of the xmas break there was some delay but they arrived the other week. Here is a picture of a few of them. They are all pretty standard size. About 230 mm or 8 inches in length. Not sure what bird they come from but I hope the bird gave them up or most probably they are from some sort of bird that is used for the table in China.

I have read some google instructions but would appreciate advice from anyone out there that has tried this.

As I understand it the first step is to temper the actual quill section which means putting some sand in a small can and heating to about 240 degrees and then stick the quills into the hot stand and let cool. The quill hardens and allows for longer use before you need to cut it off and make a new nib.
Also apparently this tempering allows you to make a slit in the quill easier. This is the same slit as in a fountain pen nib and allows the ink collected under the quill to work down towards the tip.

After the quills are tempered you have to whittle down the end of the quill into a nib shape. Apparent your first cut is about 75 degrees and then a second cut at about 45 degrees. Then you fashion the sides.

I will post my progress as I go. My first problem is trying to wait till my wife goes to bed so that I can put a can of sand in our oven. Hope the tin doesnt explode and fills up the oven with sand. Any warnings in this regard to be most welcome for my future safety (not only from the sand but from my wife)

[Lady Onogaro]

Great thread, Laurie. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.

[Paddler]

First, you need to remove the waxy membrane coating the outside of the quill. Use your thumb nail for this, or a very dull knife.

After making the first cut, scoop out the membranes from the inside of the quill. A small crochet needle works for this. Or you can use a wire with a small hook bent on the end.

Making a slit will give you a flexible nib. If you don't want flex, you can score a line on the top and bottom surfaces of the nib from the point up the nib a ways. Use a knife point drawn backwards down the nib surface. You want the score line to be rough so you don't want to make the score line with the sharp knife edge. Ink will flow down the score lines just as well as a slit.

You only need to harden the quill where the point(s) will be (the rest will be carved away, anyway, right?). You can do this by holding the quill against a hot flat-iron heated to the "cotton" setting.

[bluesea]

Cool project!

[schweitzerp]

Yeah, this is pretty awesome ;)

[Laurie]

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I heated some sand in the oven and dipped the quills in it. I made a mistake here as the sand was not hard enough and the quills did not harden sufficiently. Second batch much better. The quill ends become very hard and brittle so it is important that you do your first cut while the quill is soft. Otherwise the end of the quill keeps cracking.The rest of the cutting is virtually shaving so it is no problem.
I have had differing results with the actual shaping of the nib. I was trying to get some flex and line variation but found it difficult to get the light upstrokes. The handwriting sample does show some good flex and line variation. I was surprised that the shaped nib actually holds quiet a bit of ink and you can write a few words without having to re dip.

Here is a link which I found the best for the procedure https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qjIFKl522o

I will do another lot shortly and see if I can improve.