But it is better for fine, sharp writing that the angle be made very sharp: the knife blade is laid back (much flatter than is shown in fig. [29]) and the quill is cut quite thin; the knife blade is then held vertical and the extreme tip of the nib is cut off sharp and true (b, fig. [36]).
For large writing, the curved inside of the quill is pared flat (c, d, fig. [36]) [p060] to give full strokes. If the nib be left curved and hollow underneath (e), it is apt to make hollow strokes.
The pen may be made more pliant by scraping it till it is thinner, or by cutting the “shoulder” (a–b, fig. [29]) longer, or stiffer by cutting the nib back until the “shoulder” is short.
Goose and Crow Quills (see p. [172]).
The main advantages of a quill over a metal pen are, that the former may be shaped exactly as the writer desires, and be re-cut when it becomes blunt.
A metal pen may be sharpened on an oilstone, but the process takes so much longer that there is no saving in time: it is not easily cut to the exact shape, and it lacks the pleasant elasticity of the quill.
A gold pen is probably the best substitute for a quill, and if it were possible to have a sharp, “chisel-edged” iridium tip on the gold nib, it would be an extremely convenient form of pen. A “fountain pen” might be used with thin ink.