[Scriptoris] cutting feather quills

[HL Lucia Piazetta]

I have a quick question for this group, as I'm NOT a calligrapher by any standards:
I just purchased some turkey feathers to try making some feather quill pens.  I was wondering if anyone has any tricks or tips on cutting them into good pen tips.  My hubby suggested kitchen shears, so I tried it on one, and it worked fairly well- I got a nice angled cut, which happened to also split exactly down the tip much like a metal nib.  The only thing I don't like is that the tip isn't particularly narrow, and it is a tiny bit ragged (it does write OK for my purposes...as I said, I'm no calligrapher so my letters are blobby and uneven anyway).  Does anyone cut them differently, and are there advantages/disadvantages to using scissors over a knife?  I've SEEN them cut with a knife, but I'm not sure I could control it well enough to get a good cut.  I have about 7 more to play with, so I'm willing to experiment if others have methods to try.  

-Lucia