Quill: Difference between revisions

The strongest quills come from the primary flight feathers discarded by birds during their annual [[Moulting|moult]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.museum.ie/The-Collections/Documentation-Discoveries/December-2015/Writing-Implements,-c18th-Century|title=Writing Implements, c18th Century|last=National Musem of Ireland}}</ref> Although feathers from the left wing are supposedly favored by [[right-handed]] writers because the feather curves away from the sight line, over the back of the hand,<ref name="A Note on the Quill">{{Cite web|url=https://www.usask.ca/english/barbauld/notes/quill_note.html|title=A Note on the Quill|website=www.usask.ca|access-date=2019-05-28}}</ref><ref name=":2" />, the quill barrel is cut to six or seven inches in length so no such consideration of curvature or 'sight-line' is necessary. Additionally, writing with the left hand in the era in which the quill was popular was discouraged, and quills were never sold as left- and right-handed, only by their size and species.