Bamboo winders

[Vole]

It's on p.71 of the book:

"97. To clarify Quills.
Scrape off the outer film, and cut the ends off; then put the barrels into boiling water, wherein is a small quantity of alum and salt ; let them remain a quarter of an hour, and then dry them in a hot pan of sand or an oven.

98. To harden Quills.
In order to harden a quill that is soft, thrust the barrel into hot ashes, stirring till it is soft ; and then taking it out, press it almost flat upon your knee with the back of a pen- knife, and afterwards- reduce it to a roundness with your fingers. Another method to harden quills is by setting water and alum over the fire, and while it is boiling, put in a hand ful of quills, the barrels only, for a minute, and then lay them by.

99. Dutch method of preparing Goose Quills for Writing.
The process consists in immersing the quill, when plucked from the wing of the bird, into water al most boiling; to leave it there till it becomes suffi ciently soft to compress it, turning it on its axis with the back of the blade of the knife. This kind of friction, as well as the immersions in water, being continued till the barrel of the quill be transparent, and the membrane, as well as the greasy kind of covering, be entirely removed, it is immersed a last time to render it perfectly cylindrical, which is per formed with the index finger and the thumb ; it is then dried in a gentle temperature."

Not sure how much use these will be for trying to stretch quill, some chemical intervention might be necessary. I did have a brief look at the chemicals used in "perms", but they looked costly and unpleasant, so I wimped out. Good luck; fortune favours the well-ventilated!

[Santiago]

Good luck chaps.

[Nobby]

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog ... oCcpPw_wcB

http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/alum- ... oCXuPw_wcB


There were several types of 'alum' but this is the only one readily available now. It used to be used for making ham and bacon, curing hides and making crisp pickles. It's no longer used which is why my pickled onions only stay crisp for a few months now...they used to keep for years!

It's not that bad...but it isn't good for you either:

http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodchemi ... m-Safe.htm


"Fortune favours the well ventilated"...I like that!


If you can get the quill briefly 'plastic' you might be able to shape it over wooden formers..........

[Kirpan]

I was under the impression you only had to dip your quill into boiling water to soften it enough for mounting on a stem , I haven't tried it , but I have dabbled with signwriting. In traditional signwriting the brushes or pencils as they were called . used bird quills as ferrules to produce brushes of different sizes, if I remember correctly from swan. goose, crow, etc down to lark and they were the sizes you asked for, you would buy the tip and then mount it to your handle, sorry to go off at a tangent

[Vole]

Don't apologise, it's a whole new avenue to explore.
I bet you don't have trouble painting neat black lines on float tips with some of those...

My Dad used to work at Hoopers coachbuilders, back when (if suitably loaded) one bought the chassis and engine of a new car from Rolls Royce, Daimler, Bentley or the like and had it shipped to Hoopers, Mulliners or Park Ward to have the body built.
I'd have been under ten when he took me there one day, and one of the chaps there showed me the brush he used to paint the gold line down the side-beading that ran the length of the car; it looked to be about seven hairs held together by a twist of sellotape (though it might have been a quill mount).
Apparently he did "other work " in the morning, only feeling relaxed enough to do that long sweep of the brush after a relaxingly liquid lunch.

[Nobby]

You wouldn't want a cucumber sandwich for lunch, would you? hic !

[Match Aerial]

A wealth of knowledge you lads.
Great stuff.