The plants will be ready for harvest in about 3 years after planting. Harvesting is done during two seasons, in May and November. The correct time for cutting the shoots for peeling is determined by noting the sap circulation between the wood and corky layer. Peelers can judge this by making a test cut on the stem with a sharp knife. If the bark separates readily, the cutting is taken immediately. Stems measuring 2.0 to 2.5 cm in diameter and 1.5 to 2.0 m length are cut early in the morning and twigs and leaves are detached. The outer brown skin is first scrapped off and the stem is rubbed briskly to loosen the bark. Two cuts are made round the stem about 30 cm apart and two longitudinal slits are made on opposite sides of the stem. The bark is separated from the wood with curved knife. The detached pieces of bark are made into compound quills. The best and longest quills are used on the outside while inside is filled with smaller pieces. The compound quills are rolled by hand to press the outside edges together and are neatly trimmed. They are dried in shade as direct exposure to sun can result in warping. The dried quills consist of mixture of coarse and fine types and are yellowish brown in colour.
The quills are graded as Fine or Continental, Mexican and Hamburg or Ordinary. The Fine consists of quills of uniform thickness, colour and quality and the joints of the quills are neat. Mexican grades are intermediate in quality. The Hamburg grade consists of thicker and darker quills. The lower grades are exported as: (a) Quillings: The broken lengths and fragments of quills of all grades are bulked and sold as quillings; (b) Featherings: This grade consists of the inner bark of twigs and twisted shoots that do not give straight quills of normal length. Chips: This includes the trimmings of the cut shoots, shavings of outer and inner bark, which cannot be separated, or which are obtained from small twigs and odd pieces of thick outer bark.