To obtain a quill pen, a writer first needed the right kind of feather. Some may have used their own animals to supply the feathers, but many bought them from dealers in quills. Geese were the most commonly used birds for quill feathers, but swan feathers were considered the highest in quality.
After a feather was obtained, a writer had to cut the quill to create a pen. To do this, several careful cuts with a small sharp knife called a pen knife were made to the tip of the quill.
Quills were dipped in ink wells, and could only write a few pages before they had to be sharpened again with a a penknife. As a result, a busy student or writer might go through many quills in a short time.