The Writing Tool That Ruled The Past
The writing equipment that dominated history for thousands of years is the quill. Its usage started in 700 AD but was still used subsequent to the invention of the fountain pen. The quill pens are made from the bird plumes so they tend to be light in weight, however they surely show a measurement on some scales including the digital scale. When we talk about writing, the quills that happens to be the toughest are the ones drawn from living birds. For perfect results, the feather is drawn during spring from the five outer left-wing plumes. A right-handed writer would love to have such a quill that is drawn from the left feather because they are curved outwards and away from the writer. Depending upon the type of writing you do, there is a category of various kinds of feather that are drawn from birds.
For example, goose plumes were most commonly used whereas the premium grade swan plumes were uncommon and more expensive. As for the crow plumes, they were thought to be the perfect ones for making fine lines. Other species of birds whose plumes were used for making quills, include eagles, owls, turkeys and hawks.
You can’t start writing with a feather soon after plucking it, it needs to be cut to turn it into a quill. The people of earlier times used to carve the barrel or shaft of the feather that they required a sharp knife which was called the pen knife. The writers and stationers of that time used to sharpen and slit the point region to create a nib for writing. It’s simply amazing to see how the writing of each quill varies. This variation results from the development of the wing shaft and the cutting of the quill maker. So every quill is unique just like the writer or the creator of that quill. The selection, trimming, shaping of a quill is quite tedious, but is also an art at the same time.
The people of previous times used to have faith that plumes belonging to a goose were ideal for making quills. Sometimes, only two or three plumes are the right ones among the whole lot. For nice writing, the nib has to be shaped to a really fine point. A slit is then made at the bottom of the shaft. This slit allows the smooth travelling of ink. Only the goose feather’s shaft has this characteristic to hold the ink until when light pressure is applied. The pressure makes the ink to reach to the nib in the needed amount.
Quills have a great contribution to the early scribes who used to write and adorn their manuscripts using these instruments. This is why the earlier manuscripts of the Bible and the Magna Carta were written by quills. Moreover, this instrument was used to make great works of literature, books and other historical documents that had a great impact on this world. Conversely, quills have left a great impact on history all along their period of domination.