6.Finishing the Tip -- I usually do the shaping of the tines to where they meet as exactly as possible at the same point on the tip, which usually ends up being a needle-like tip, with small curls of shavings still attached and when they pull off there's microscopic 'bits' on it still. To remove the bits, I usually put just the very edge of the tip into the scissors and snip the loose or unstable bits off, this is sometimes about the thickness of an eyelash.
The traditional way, though is to put the tip on some supporting surface, the easiest when I'm holding knife in the right hand and pen in the left is my left index fingernail, and then use the knife to cut off the last infintesmal bit. To make a thicker nib, cut off more. Medium, broad, and even chisel points are easy, just cut them to that shape with the slit in the middle. As another step with the boarder tips is scraping either the top or the bottom a bit to make a smoother tip for writing. This is much like grinding smooth any metal tip, just faster.
This is really hard to get a picture of because the work is just so close and so microscopic. I actually find it easier to do this without my contacts in because I'm severely nearsighted, to the point where I have such a strong prescription for everyday use that my really close sight gets affected when I have my lenses in. I can do a general shaping with my contacts in, but the occassional troublesome point takes me taking out my contacts to actually figure out the microscopic adjustment to get it right.
7.Testing Your Point -- The final step is to dip it into ink and try it out on some paper. Make sure that you have good paper, cheap paper will take the amounts of ink that a quill puts down and bleed the ink everywhere, even amounts of ink that shouldn't bleed and are normal for a quill. Also, try to use a fairly light hand, it shouldn't be ridiculously light, but it shouldn't be three-copies-through-carbon-paper heavy, either, as that's bound to split the tips. I've found, though, if the tip is cut correctly and the nib is stable, someone with a pretty heavy hand can still write with a well-cut quill.
Most usual problem at this point is that it's spilling ink in big blobs everywhere. This usually means that the edges defining the tines weren't curved from the outside to the tip so that the tip are could be flat for enough surface area. What usually happens is that they aren't cut curved, just straight, so that there is curve to the tube as well as more width just behind the point. The width allows more ink flow to the tip than the tip can actually handle, and the surface tension of the ink clings to the curve until it touches down to the paper. Then blob. The fix is to cut the tip so that, from the side it looks like the picture first up from here.
A less usual problem, but one that happens once one gets the idea to shape the tip thinly, is that of flicking sprays of ink in some direction. Usually this means that the tip was shaped too thinly, without enough support from the base of the tines. So slice just a bit off the tip, to allow it a bit wider a base.
Finally, if it writes for four or five words and then quits, it's because the feed from the ink reserve isn't working and either the split really isn't a split or the tines aren't meeting evenly on the paper, and you might be writing with just one tine. I know it *looks* like it is, but it's possible that the split slants through the material or something really small isn't quite lined up. Look at it under a magnifying glass or just shave a bit off each side of the tip and re-cut your tip and it may well work better. Another manifestation of this is when one tip is just barely off, and some letters might fade out as your write, but if you change the angle you're holding the pen at, the writing comes back. One way to check the split is to see if ink gets in it when you've dipped it and wiped the rest of it clean. The other, more dangerous way, is to use the knife edge to just gently lift up on the split to see if the tips really do part. If you do this too far, the tips may never come back together and you have to re-cut it anyway; but sometimes it can be a very useful way to see if things are working.
Points about cutting -- The knife isn't a press and cut kind of deal, where the tip is pressed against the tube material and it actually goes through. I usually carve, shaving off bits and curls from the outside in along the tine shaping bits. The first two cuts are also nearly the same as whittling motions, where the knife edge catches on the surface, then slices or carve through material. I do a lot of tiny, little carvings at the end. The shallow cut and the steep cut at the beginning are quick and ruthless; but the shaping is a very fine control thing.
For Soaked and Tempered Tubes -- The soaked and tempered tips need a slightly scrambled order, and the only way to split the tube is by using your knife. So basically, it's do the set-up cut, make the knife split, then open the tube to shape the tines, and finish by cutting the tip. With the more flexible material, the knife split is actually easy to do. Back to cutting start.
