'instrumenta scribe calamus et penna' - the instruments of the scribe are the reed and the pen. -- Isidore, Bishop of Serville (560-636)
Etymologia
So far, my research has turned up very few period references to quills, even less on their cutting, and so far nothing on how quills were cured. But, it has turned up some interesting uses for quills in period.
The manuscript Mappae Clavicula mentions writing with a quill and using it for a storage container when making pigment.
In, Liber de Coloribus Illuminatorum Pictorum from Solane MS no 1754, has you designing with a quill and drawing with a quill upon parchment.
Theophilus in On Divers Arts, mentions quills several times, but only in his third volume of his book, the metal working section. He uses quills to hold materials such as filings. And, also when applying enamels.
Cennino Cennini in his book, Il Libro dell'arte, written before 1437, describes how to cut a quill pen.
If you need to learn how this goose quill should be cut, get a good, firm quill, and take it, upside down, straight across the two fingers of your left hand; and get a very sharp penknife, and make a horizontal cut one finger along the quill; and cut it by drawing the knife toward you, taking care that the cut runs even and through the middle of the quill. And then put the knife back on one of the edges of this quill, say on the left side, which faces you, and pare it, and taper it off toward the point. And cut the other side to the same curve, and bring it down to the same point. Then turn the pen around the other side up, and lay it over your left thumb nail; and carefully, bit by bit, pare and cut that little tip; and make the shape broad or fine, whichever you want, either for drawing or for writing.
The following are the basic steps for creating a quill pen. After picking a feather to be turned into a pen, it is cut to size, usually around 8 inches long from the point. The barbs are then carefully removed so the barrel is not damaged. Next, the tip is cut so the membrane inside the barrel can be removed and cleaned. The feather barrel is next soaked anywhere from a few hours to overnight. After the soaking, the barrel is removed from the water, shaken out and dried off to remove extra water but not dry out the barrel. The pen-to-be is then cured by an application of heat. Once the barrel has been cured and hardened, it is scrapped and trimmed into a writing point.
Time will cure feathers, but depending on the conditions it can take months to years for it to be completely cured. Applying heat to the feather speeds up the curing time, but it has its own troubles. If the heat is too hot the barrel will blister and bubble making that section of the feather unusable for a pen. If it’s not cured enough it’ll be rubbery and will need more curing time. Most of the time a cured feather will have a nicotine or amber color to the barrel after it’s cured. The aim is to temper the quill to an even hardness and clarity along the whole length.
Putting the barrel directly into a fire is a little risky as it’s easy to get the barrel to hot so it tends to be a time-consuming method as the barrel is placed into the fire repeatedly for short tests until the feather is done.
Sand isn’t a good conductor of heat so fine silica sand, often called silver sand, or white sand, is recommended for this curing method. The sand should be placed into a heatproof bowl like a pie dish and should be about two inches deep. It’s suggested placing the dish filled with sand in an oven at 350 degrees for around 20 minutes before attempting to cure quills. A teaspoon is used to scoop some sand into the barrel to help spread the heat throughout the barrel and it is immediately covered in sand for a few seconds. This does mean you can’t see what is actually happening, so it’s advised to do a test feather before doing several at once.
The most suggested method for curing quills that I have run across is the ‘dutchifying’ or dutching’ from the second half of the eighteenth century. A dutching tool is easily made from a straightened brass cup hook and a wooden handle. A hot plate is used to heat the brass which is then placed inside the barrel and the quill is then placed against the hot plate and rotated. This method has the advantage that the entire process can be seen and controlled. The dutching tool can also be used to press down the feather during curing to make it oval so wider nibs can be cut.
All of this research is in preparation for attempting to cure and cut some quill pens. I have 10 uncured, uncut goose feathers, two time cured, uncut turkey feathers, and a new penknife.
Isaac
