1, feather selection

The feathers of many big birds are suitable for pens, as long as they are long enough and hard enough (usually the ones with the longest wings). The most common feather is goose feather, which may be the reason why quill pens are usually called quill pens. Swan feathers are rare and precious, crow feathers are neatly written, and there are duck feathers, eagle feathers, fire feathers and mountain feathers.

Step 2: Pretreatment

Clean the scales and skin tissues often taken from the feather roots, scrape off the feathers that hinder writing, and clean the inside of the feather tube with toothpicks to ensure smooth flow.

Step 3 harden the pen holder

This is done to increase hardness, facilitate writing and avoid corrosion. Specifically, it is hot sand, baked directly, dried in the sun, or simply put it for ten or eight years. Here, the most commonly used method-hot sand is introduced in detail: insert the exposed part into an iron pot filled with sand and heat it for 15~20 minutes, and the temperature is about 170 degrees Celsius. When it is taken out after cooling, the color of the pen becomes opaque.

Step 4 sharpen your point

First, cut diagonally at the feather root.

Draw a knife (ink box) upward in the middle of the bottom.

Cut and extend the extended midline.

Correction of pen tip modeling (refer to pen tip modeling, because modern pen modeling is derived from feather pen). Note that "the thickness of the pen tip determines the thickness of writing".

Make a small hole in the middle of the center line with a sewing needle.

Step 5 exceed

It is inevitable that the new pen is not easy to use. Just use it more often. However, Chinese square characters do more damage to the pen tip, so you can trim it a little with a knife. In the past, foreigners always brought a knife to sharpen the nib.