A quill pen is made from a flight feather (preferably a primary) of a large bird, most often a goose. Quills were used as instruments for writing with ink before the metal dip pen, the fountain pen, and eventually the ball point pen came into use. The hand-cut goose quill is still a superior calligraphy tool, providing a sharp stroke and flexibility unmatched in steel pens. The shaft of the feather acts as an ink reservoir and ink flows to the tip by capillary action. A pen (Latin penna, feather) is a writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper. ... Two feathers Feathers are one of the epidermal growths that form the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on birds. ... “Aves” redirects here. ... Look up goose in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Scribe Writing Writing, in its most common sense, is the preservation and the preserved text on a medium, with the use of signs or symbols. ... An ink is a liquid containing various pigments and/or dyes used for colouring a surface to render an image or text. ... Three dip pens, and six nibs. ... A fountain pen is a writing instrument, more specifically a pen, that contains a reservoir of water-based ink that is fed to a nib through a feed via a combination of gravity and capillary action. ... A ballpoint pen A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument, more specifically a pen, similar to a pencil in size and shape. ... A pen (Latin penna, feather) is a writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper. ... Western calligraphy is the calligraphy of the Latin writing system, and to a lesser degree the Greek and Cyrillic writing systems. ... Capillary action, capillarity, or capillary motion is the ability of a substance (the standard reference is to a tube in plants but can be seen readily with porous paper) to draw a substance up against gravity. ...

Common writing equipment in medieval times were the quill and parchment or paper. The quill eventually replaced the reed pen. The quill pen was introduced around 700 CE. The strongest quills were those taken from living birds in the spring from the five outer left wing feathers. The left wing was favored because the feathers curved outward and away when used by a right-handed writer. Goose feathers were most common; swan feathers were of a premium grade being scarcer and more expensive. For making fine lines, crow feathers were the best, and then came the feathers of the eagle, owl, hawk and turkey. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... German parchmenter, 1568 Parchment is a material for the pages of a book or codex, made from fine calf skin, sheep skin or goat skin. ... A blank sheet of paper Paper is a commodity of thin material produced by the amalgamation of fibers, typically vegetable fibers composed of cellulose, which are subsequently held together by hydrogen bonding. ... Reed pens or kalamos are a type of writing implement with a long history. ...

It is widley popularised that the barbs (the feather) would be left on, but in fact it would be stripped off and only the shaft was used.

A signwriter or sign painter uses a "quill" brush as a main tool. The quill brush is usually made from ox hair, which is more durable than many other artist brushes. It has a quill ferrule which attaches the hair to the brush handle and is tied together with wire. Different styles of paintbrushes The term brush refers to a variety of devices mainly with bristles, wire or other filament of any possible material used mainly for cleaning, grooming hair, painting, deburring and other kinds of surface finishing, but also for many other purposes like (but not limited to) seals... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... A ferrule (possibly the Latin diminutive of ferrum iron) is a name for types of metal objects. ...

Pens from the LEFT wing were cheaper than right winged ones, because when held in position for writing they pointed towards the writer's eye and not out over the elbow as right wing ones did.

External links

• Regia Anglorum
• How to cut quill pens
• A brief history of writing instruments
• Writing instruments over 6000 years (timeline)
• Quill Pens the 18th Century Way