Make a calligraphy pen out of a bulrush (cattail) reed

Step 8 Shave the tip to a fine edge

The finer the edge, the more expressive the writing, as you can go from ultra-fine lines to hugely fat ones.

You won't be getting hair-thin lines with this pen, but you should still try to shave it as thin as you can.

Shave the rounded outside of the nib down until it is flat. Also, try to shave the inside thin too, but be careful.