I’m a very normal person. Like other very normal people, the Weird makes me queasy, and I generally don’t seek it out. However, sometimes the tentacles of the numinous reach for me, and I am pulled into another layer of reality outside my current one.
Lucky Breaks: SM4 and SM2
Despite my best intentions and proud declarations of restraint, my garage became congested with typewriters last week and every surface was covered with machines and tools and manuals.
Bad Dog!
A local collector named Michael has become my go-to source for broken typewriters. He collects the good, the bad, and the indifferent—he loves them all and welcomes them with open arms and no judgement. When he told me he had an Olympia SM4 with a flying carriage, I began to salivate reflexively. Nice machine. Interesting problem.
Olympia SM9: An Unexpected Journey
Some typewriter repairs appear to be fast and easy projects at the outset, but quickly turn challenging as the ailing typewriters reveal their more complicated selves. It’s just one thing after another, and soon the typewriter is taking you on a journey to an unknown destination.
Royal Rumspringa: the Carriage Goes WHEEE!
There was a very suspicious situation going down in a McDonald’s parking lot in Germantown, MD a couple weekends ago. It looked like a drug deal. But no, it was a typewriter hand-off.
Friendly Machines
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.
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.
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