Maybe you’re:
- Learning about typewriters for a future purchase?
- Contemplating buying your first machine?
- Visiting a local typewriter shop?
- Trolling Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, ShopGoodwill, CraigsList, OfferUp for your next machine?
- Buying new ribbon?
- Reading books about typewriters and their history?
- Reading typewritten literature?
- Are you out hunting for a new machine at yard/tag/garage sales or antique vintage shops?
- Exploring a new typewriter for the first time?
- Logging your machines into the typewriter database?
- Cleaning, repairing, or restoring a machine?
- Reading up on typewriter repair?
- Writing something for fun?
- Typing a post for the typosphere or One Typed Page?
- Visiting a typewriter museum?
- Watching videos about typewriters on YouTube?
- Something else?
Let us know what you’re doing in the comments…
attempting to find a power cord for a brother correct-o-ball I picked up a while back. it has some weird connector that I’m not familiar with
I’m spending some time cleaning up a ’48 Royal QDL.
Trying to figure out how much it’s going to cost to send one of my typewriters into a shop. Full clean, repair, platen, what that cost will actually be. Looking at shops (nothing in my area), and… thinking about it. Full repair, via ship-in. Open to US shop suggestions. (1933 Remi Scout, rough).
I have scored some pretty fun typewriters lately and they will get their fair share of TLC. A Pakistani made TIP 1100 (ABC/Cole Steel clone). I had to contact Reverend Munk and ask him to add a new brand on TWDB before I can upload it. An IBM Model D Braille. Apparently the first electric Braille typewriter in the World. A very early Olivetti Valentine from the first Ivrea built batch of 400-500 typewriters before production was moved to Spain and Mexico. Probably the lowest serial Valentine on TWDB when it gets uploaded.
Watching YouTube videos on typewriters, scouring facebook market place and craigslist for some specific models, planning on going to a few antique stores/fairs. And doing my first cleaning of a skywriter (I even had to deal with the escapement ratchet [I think that’s what it was called]) and now it’s just test typing with it.
I took my Hermes Rocket (1962) to Helmut on Westwood Blvd for repair. He offered a newer platen, but I demurred. The $125 for the repair was enough, I think, I didn’t want to spend an additional $100 for the platen. Got to watch that kind of thing.
The other thing I’m going to do is try to get rust stains out of the case of a German keyboard Hermes Baby. I love that I got a rare fabric case, but it clearly had some metal can or something sitting on it in an attic. I’m told salt and lemon juice will help. I hope so!
Thinking how can I make something to ease index card typing and addressing envelopes on my lettera 32, something like a card guide
I’m going on a little road trip to pick up a recently serviced Hermes 3000 with techno-pica I found at an antique shops – so excited!!
Waiting for FedEx to hurry up so I can get my Royal FPE!
Just using my typewriter. One of the things I do is type up a simple menus for my kids. I’v done it for all the lunches they have had since the first day of preschool (It started on day one, as one of requirements at the co-op preschool was to tag kids lunches with a name and a date everyday, and I thought it would be fun to include a menu.) I type one for other lunches too, but I sometimes miss those as my spouse sometimes makes those meals. My eldest is getting to an age where they might not appreciate the menu much longer, so I am going to do it as long as I can.
I also have to tame my desk and type up some lists. I am so behind on the desk. I think that the papers will swallow me.
I type out postcards to my mom in Texas and my son, who is active duty Air Force, and his family stationed in the UK. Joe Van Cleave gave me the idea of using Avery labels to type out the address, return address and body of the postcard and then affixing the labels to the card. Since I write 5 to 7 days a week, my wife gave me the idea of photographing the cards, as sort of a diary.
https://preview.redd.it/2lnkb2kf7rkd1.jpeg?width=1645&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40b5d14e19806afd6f0aee617888e63a9a1bb9e2
My partner and I are trying to repair my Erika Electric that got damaged during transit.
It’s a work in progress as neither of us have experience with fixing typewriters, but we’re doing good so far!
I’ll be doing the same thing I do with every ounce of free time I can squeeze for the last 1.5 years: Trying to write my book. It’s been going very, very slowly
I’m not a typewriter collector but I love reading about your collection! I thought of you when I learned of this great group via the Texas Standard https://www.typewriterrodeo.com/
I think I may have heard of the rodeo via Richard Polt a few months back. They have some great stuff.