====== 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.