If you ever go to a typewriter meet-up, you’ll likely never run out of conversation with attendees because there is such an overlap in niche enthusiasms. Sure, you’ll talk about typewriters, but soon you’ll be onto cameras or guitars or 3D printers or fountain pens or bicycles or printing presses or vacuum cleaners—or sewing machines.
Author: maryech
Recovered Memories: Underwood 5 Platen and Carriage Removal
Over the holidays, I sent DePiglio the Underwood 5 away to a nice farm in the country—er, I mean, to my brother-in-law’s office in Rhode Island.
Catch and Release
Some time ago, I was on the phone with one of my sisters, chatting about death—as one does—and the huge piles of accumulated STUFF people usually leave behind.
Old Dog, New Tricks
Typewriter repair keeps this Old Dog sharp and on her toes. Two recent repairs on two different SCM Electra 120s broadened my skill set and gave me a lot of old-dog-new-trick satisfaction.
The first repair was on one of my “catch and release” typewriters that came back to me recently. It’s a beautiful Smith-Corona Electra 120 that I found at a local thrift store for $10. It was gummed up from disuse. After a careful cleaning, it went back into action when Jean, a lovely local typewriter enthusiast, adopted it.
Indiscipline: 1916 Royal 10
I hosted a typewriter open house in my garage a few weeks ago, and one attendee brought me a beautiful 1916 Royal 10 Box-O-Typewriter as a gift. It’s one of those super cool oldies with four glass windows. What joy this reassembly project has given me.
Only Connect!
Last weekend I hosted a typewriter get-together at my place in Arlington for DC-area typewriter enthusiasts. I have missed in-person social situations where I could talk typewriters with typewriter people, and I wanted to connect with local collectors.
Bing No. 2: Bat out of Heck
Last summer I went to visit my sister. It was a joyous reunion since we hadn’t seen each other in a while. I come from a family of eight kids, and we’re spread out all over the place. It’s always an exciting, chaotic time when two or more of us get together. That brings to mind the famous quote:
Carried by the Steel Rail
A local gentleman contacted me recently via email about a Royal KMM. Jonathan had inherited his grandfather’s KMM and hoped to get it running.
Out with the Old, In with the New: Olympia SM
J. is a local typewriter enthusiast who brings me problem typewriters from time to time. She doesn’t just admire her lovelies on a shelf, she works them hard, typing daily. Her Olympia SM3 below is beloved. Not only does it look truly scrumptious with that box-o-chocolates keyboard, it types like an Olympia—that is to say, like a mechanical dream.
Diversions: SCM Electra 120
I am friendly with a local gal who loves typewriters and writing. J. has a really nice collection of typers, and I have worked on a couple of them. She had had a beat-up Olivetti Lettera 22 I fixed up a couple years ago. It eventually became a favorite typewriter for her. She gave it to a friend and now misses it very much.
Super Duper: Smith-Corona Super-G
I’m a Facebook lurker, and a recent post on the Facebook Mid-Atlantic Typewriter Collectors Group caught my attention. The poster was having trouble finding time to work on a distressed S-C Super-G, so he was giving it away:
Platens, Writers, Readers, and Livers
I’ve been getting some questions about platen recovering recently. Last year, I recovered a Remington Portable #2 platen and an Underwood 5 platen that were in sorry shape. In their cracked condition, the bad platens made the typewriters unusable. I thought: well, what’s the worst I can do?
Don’t Fear the Junker
We interrupt this typewriter blog post for an important public service announcement:
Royal KMM: Broken Things and Fixes
A local lady heard through the grapevine that I liked to tinker with old typewriters. K. had purchased a Royal KMM at a yard sale and was hoping to get it typing. I was glad to take on the project since it would be a distraction from my Twitter horror scrolling and my hand-wringing over the broken state of the world. She brought it over a couple weekends ago, and here it is on my porch on arrival:
Foster-Child of Silence and Slow Time: 1917 Oliver 9
I have recently been thinking a lot about this three-axle End Times van my son spotted in San Mateo a couple years ago.
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