Stocking stuffers anyone? Santa brought 6,000 index cards down the proverbial chimney today. Should have enough now to index all the books in the house?
Keep your A6 notebooks, pens, and essentials organized on the go with the Field Folio A6. Durable, vegan waxed canvas, slim design, and flexible pockets—perfect for travel, journaling, or everyday carry.
I recently asked the kind folks at Lochby “if the Folio A6 will comfortably fit 25-50 standard 4 x 6″ index cards which are slightly larger than an A6 notebook? If not, is it something you might consider for some of us ‘Hipster PDA’ tribe members in the future?”
Erring on the side of caution their customer service replied, “Unfortunately, since the Field Folio A6 zips up, there’s no way to fit this many index cards in it without the potential for damaging them when zipping it up. But I’ll take note of your suggestion and pass it on to our product development team so we can consider it as well as gauge interest.”
Because I often use A6 sized notebooks, I couldn’t resist adding to my Lochby collection, so I went ahead and ordered it anyway.
It arrived in the post yesterday. Today I’m happy to report that it actually will accommodate 4 x 6″ index cards reasonably well. I can comfortably fit about 30 cards into the right side pocket and still have room to tuck a Hobonichi A6 notebook into the folio and still zip it shut handily.
Because I usually have a few pre-glued decks of index card “notebooks” sitting around, I tried one of these and can happily report that the back cover/board fits into the right pocket easily (just as you’d tuck the back cover of a notebook into it) and works well with the Lochby A6 folio! (The center elastic bands are slightly smaller and fairly tight, and could work with these glued decks too, but will tend to cut the glue at the ends, so one should take care here or carefully only glue the center 5 inches of the deck for this use case.) I suspect that if one had a plastic wallet-photo type holder, it might work well in this, particularly if you’re carrying around some of your daily use cards in addition to blank cards for future use.
a steel task lamp in gray paint with a dual pipe adjustable arm and art deco fluting
I had the ballast replaced to work with modern LED replacement bulbs and the switch upgraded to be able to control each of the two bulbs independently. I also cleaned of decades of grime and polished it up a bit.
Thrift purchase for $24.98 from Goodwill on 2025-10-02.
Serial Number: KMM18-3015689
Extra-wide 18 inch platen with support "wings" and a 10 key decimal tabulator
Royal Elite typeface at 12 CPI and 6 lines/inch vertical
I purchased this 1946 Royal KMM standard typewriter on October 4th via Goodwill for $22.00. It’s equipped with an extra-wide 18 inch platen and carriage with “support wings” and a 10 key decimal tabulator which means in its day it would have been used for some heavy-duty accounting.
The logos could be in better shape, but the rubber feet and overall condition are pretty exceptional. It’ll definitely need a good cleaning and some very minor adjustments. Tipping the scales at 47.8 pounds makes this the heaviest typewriter in the collection so far. $0.46 per pound isn’t a half bad deal for something in this condition.
Can’t wait to do some restoration work on my second Royal KMM.
A mid-19th century typing accessory in steel with putty colored paint.
9" x 7" x 4 3/4"
I picked this copy holder up at a thrift store in early 2025 for about $2. Along with a binder clip or some small magnets, it’s great for transcribing notes using one of my typewriters.
A punch for making file tabs of 2 1/4" x 3/4"
P/N 68500
I had been considering getting a custom punch made several times, but never looked to see if one already existed commercially. Today, while doing a 5 minute peruse of the thrift store, there it was!
When you use as many tabbed index card dividers as I do, this can be incredibly useful. It’s just the right size for doing 1/3 cut tabs on 4″ x 6″ index cards.
Acquired at Acts Thrift Store on October 7, 2025 for $2.50.
I’ve been wanting a vintage desktop index card holder and pen set for a bit. This excellent version has a nautical theme featuring a ship with subtle blue lines on the sails and red rope lines that call to mind the red and blue lines on standard lined index cards. The fact that the blue color pairs well with my executive tanker desk doesn’t hurt.
$3.99 at Acts Thrift Store, Pasadena, CA. Acquired on 2025-10-07.
Material: Steel
Design: art deco, two pedestals with an adjustable lamp head
Color: Brown crinkle paint
On September 21st, I picked up this vintage lamp for my desk. It was a steal at $14.99 from the local thrift shop which doesn’t often have lamps at all. The brown crinkle paint is a near perfect match for my 1955 Royal HH standard typewriter. While a bit dusty and covered in decades of nicotine, it’s cleaned up nicely and works well. I love the fact that there are small grooves in the base that seem to be designed to hold a pen or pencil.
This textbook has evolved from a set of lecture notes which I prepared for a semester course in Hilbert space. I have in mind first- or second-year graduate students in Mathematics and related fields such as Physics.
I’d purchased this in 2024 as a late Christmas present for myself, but it took several weeks to be delivered due to our neighborhood being closed off by the National Guard for the Eaton Fire. It finally arrived on January 23 in true “barn” condition. The carriage took a hit and is off about 1/2″ and is going to take some careful forming to attempt to salvage it. Otherwise this will sadly be a parts machine. Beyond this issue it appears to be reasonably restorable.
Serial Number: KMG-4294086
4 bank, 42 keys / 84 characters, tabulator, Magic Margins, Royal standard elite typeface
Back on March 7, 2025, I picked up my second Royal KMG for the pittance of $21. The first was in pica, but this one has my preferred elite/12 pitch size.
Today I pulled it out of the office closet where it’s been waiting patiently since the Eaton Fire for some restoration attention. I acquired it with the drawband disconnected, but in under five minutes I was able to get it re-connected and re-tensioned. The ribbon was a total loss, so i swapped it out with about 22 feet of black/red bichrome cotton ribbon from Baco Ribbon Supply Co. A few tweaks later, and I’ve now got this machine up and running with some pretty reasonable alignment.
Future work
It’s a bit slower than it ought to be, so it’s definitely going to need a full clean/oil/adjust. The rubber feet are completely shot on this, so they’re going to require complete replacement. The platen has pretty much lost all of it’s “give”, so it will need replacement too. There’s two dents in the paper table that ought to flatten out with some care. Beyond this, I suspect I’ll be able to get this lovely machine shined up and running with less than a day’s worth of modest work.
Presuming that I can tune it up to the same standard as my other KMG, this one will replace it as my daily driver, though the pica version will still get lots of attention.
Body serial number: 7-2663226
Carriage serial number: 8-2710434
Custom Basic Writing No. 67 typeface; 6 CPI (4.2 m/m), 3 lines/inch
Body cover in Saturn White with Slate Gray bottom shell.
An observant friend knew I was looking for either an Olympia SG-1 or an SG-3 typewriter and got an SG-3 for me for my birthday on July 8th. It arrived on Friday the 11th. Naturally I was excited to open it up, but I was even more surprised to discover that it was hiding a relatively rare typeface, particularly for an Olympia. (The sender confirmed they had no idea about the typeface, they were just trying to snag an SG-3 for me.)
Basic Writing No. 67 Typeface
None of the Olympia typeface catalogs I’ve ever seen include this particular typeface. The closest I’ve seen to a match for it is the Basic Writing No. 67 (6 CPI) which was available as a custom order for Smith-Corona machines in the 60s onward. The 1964 NOMDA Blue Book includes it as does the Smith-Corona Typestyles catalog from 1968. Slug/foundry marks I’ve seen for the Smith-Coronas have a “29” on them while mine reads “2985”. I’m suspecting the 29s have something in common via the foundry while the 85 might be indicative of the length of the rule on the carriage.
In comparing exemplars, I’m reasonably certain that they’re identical due to the nature of the distinctive numbers 4, 9, the letter t and the sharply angled connectors on the u and the n.
While it was surely a custom order, Olympia apparently did it often enough that they bothered to have Perspex carriage rules custom made for the size. The rule on the back of this one has a “42” in the left rear corner which was surely an internal indicator for a 4.2m/m typeface. (4.2 m/m = 25.4 mm/inch x 1 inch/6 characters). It’s common on most Olympias for their rules to be either stamped or marked with the rule size like this most likely to ensure the correct rules were put onto the appropriate typewriters during manufacturing and assembly.
This particular machine has a very wide 15 inch platen and the rule only measures up to 85 characters! For type this large, you’re sure to want wider paper to actually fit something on it. As a comparison, my 1977 Olympia SG-3 with a shorter 13″ platen has a rule that measures up to 145 characters. That machine is also marked with a 21 in the left corner to indicate that it’s 2.1 m/m or 12 pitch (elite) machine.
Because of the large format typeface, this machine does not accommodate bichrome ribbon like most SG-3s. As a result, the ribbon color selector on the left side of the keyboard which would typically be labeled blue, white, red (from top to bottom) is labeled white, white, blue. I’ve spooled it up with a new monochrome black ribbon on universal spools. Though it’s from the early 70s when it was more common, this machine also has a 1/! key to better differentiate the numeral 1 and the lower case letter L.
The custom modified ribbon color selector on the SG-3 keyboard.
To show just how large this typeface really is, I’m including a sample of it along side of the standard Royal pica and elite typefaces.
Condition
The typewriter itself is in reasonable condition for its age. Someone has obviously left it in a somewhat humid environment where it was neglected for a few decades. The spacious area underneath the carriage had the cobwebs and skeletons of at least four nice sized spiders. Some of the metal pieces inside have some surface rust that will need to be mitigated. I’ve wiped off the exterior shell and given the interior a preliminary blow out with the air compressor. I’ve oiled the carriage rails lightly, and I’ve put a new ribbon into it and the alignment seems reasonable, though I’m sure to make an adjustment or two when I get to giving it a full clean, oil, and adjust. The carriage has something slightly out of alignment as it binds at about the midpoint, but I’m sure I’ll find it when I’ve stripped it down for a full clean.
In the meanwhile, it’s in good enough condition for general use.
Heavy steel punch in gray enamel with chromed handle
Anna Havron recently mentioned that she had a Bates Hummer punch from years back, so it only took a second’s thought to pick up this $3.99 purchase at the local Acts Thrift store when I ran across it on June 28th
It was in pretty solid shape with some heavy dust, light pitting on some of the steel, and some hints of rust on one of the bars. A quick cleaning today with some degreasers and anti-rust solution along with a brass bristle brush has brought it back to its original life. It really is stunning how solid this piece of office equipment still is all these years later.
Wilson Jones Co., one of the largest office supply manufacturers in the United States, was purchased by Swingline Inc. in 1959 and is now a part of ACCO brands who boldly state that Wilson Jones was the inventor of the 3 ring binder, though evidence indicates its origin predates this. The “Hummer” was one of their original and storied punches.
I’m unsure of the date of manufacture of my punch, though it was made in their Chicago, IL plant.
Acquired3 Hole Punch(Master Products Mfg. Co., Los Angeles, Calif.)
Black cast iron and metal
Swung through the thrift store today and found this fantastic beast. $3.82 was absolutely too little for such a lovely vintage piece. Not sure of the age, but definitely manufactured to last. Twenty minutes of cleaning and a light oiling and it’s almost as new as the day it came off the factory floor. Handles up to 20 sheets of paper and slices through them like butter.
