* Jowo Cracked Housings

So, this has been a thorn in my side for a while now. First of all there were the problems making pens to fit Jowo nibs and having to learn how to get them right. Then finally when I managed that I started to get cracks in the housings which hold the feeds. I asked my supplier of Jowo nibs and it was suggested I may have been a bit too rough with them, which is fair enough. So I ordered a few more and put these aside, but then I started to hear of other pen makers experiencing the same thing. Turns out recently Jowo have said they are having issues with the feed housings for their steel #6 nibs. If you have any of these I would check them over if I was you. I have found the cracks seem to be in very similar places and have a photo for [reference](https://i.imgur.com/Szk3mmk.jpg). I have to give props to my supplier, they have been very fair with me on this one.

* Pen Making

So I have begun to make my own roll stops for the pens I make out of the same material the pens are made of and I believe they are coming out quite well. They are pretty easy to make too, but as with many of these things, they are a pain in the butt to finish.

So I start of by cutting off a slither of material from the pen blank itself and sanding both sides as well as the edge. This basically gives you a small resin coin, you can see [two here](https://i.imgur.com/to9xjkm.jpg). Once I have those it is a case of putting them in a vice so that the correct amount of blank is exposed, this amount can change depending on which final look you want, how [pronounced a roll stop](https://i.imgur.com/8BllUd8.jpg) you want. When you have determined that its am amount you want you cut it off using the vice as a steady which keeps the saw blade relatively straight. This is a [picture](https://i.imgur.com/ysS34uN.jpg) of two I have cut off on a flat surface checking to see if they need filing. Once filed flat they were put upon the pens and a 2 part epoxy was used to glue them in place making sure they lined up properly with the [pen](https://i.imgur.com/24jwI3Z.jpg). Once they are glued on you can check the [profile](https://i.imgur.com/GgKRzYb.jpg) view to see if they need sanding down further to reduce the projection of the roll stop. Then its a case of polishing.

[Here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mv0VE7tWU0p_eA4cWGRWsnANIgmdgNzP/view?usp=sharing) are the pens I have made this week, well most of them anyway, some have already been sent away to their new homes. You can see in this picture the two with roll stops that I have made. There is also a pen in there I will be showing off next week as it is another remake of an older pen, I just need to track down that older pen, ha! I sweat if my head wasn’t screwed on…

* Photography

I just wanted to include a little bit on my ongoing battle with photography. I have come to the conclusion that I truly do suck as a photographer and I am seeking outside help with it. So watch this space. As an example, [here](https://i.imgur.com/zdQypZ7.jpg) is an unedited picture from my phone. [Here](https://i.imgur.com/I2Nlnyl.jpg) is a picture I have taken and edited using my wifes 15 year old Digital SLR. Not great.. Now the image of the pens I made this week (headline image and the one up 1 paragraph) as well as [this one](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FBtVeFmjDCyp7M6_uTIJsZ6LRellgEBJ/view?usp=sharing) my wife took and edited. A vast difference, so I am handing photography over to her.