Quill Sharpening
| Field | Writing--prose, poetry, music--genres of all sorts. |
| Went Obsolete | A long time ago. |
| Made Obsolete By | The advent of metallic nibs, other ink delivery systems. |
| Knowledge Assumed | How to write, and how to handle a knife. |
| When useful | Useful when documents needed to be legible. |
Quill sharpening was an important skill for authors who didn't want to leave horrible scratches and blots of ink on their work. It involved trimming the tubular part of a feather to a sharp point with a 'pen' knife. The sharpened feather was then dipped in ink and used as a writing instrument. People drew with quills too.