I regularly see writers (or their friends or significant others considering buying them presents) interested in purchasing their first typewriter as a (distraction-free) writing tool. Naturally, unless they grew up with them or have other direct experience, the primary questions are: how much are they?, which ones are the better professional tools?, and where can they get them?
Having written up some suggestions in the past as well as a bit about the state of the current typewriter market, I thought I’d put the two together for future queries as the broad advice doesn’t change very much. This article might also be generally useful for anyone considering their first typewriter, or even getting into typewriter collecting in general.
This won’t cover any of the electric typebar typewriters or the later wedge typewriters, thermal typewriters, or electronic word processors which are similar, but potentially different beasts and markets.
In the Typewriter Market Condition is King
When it comes to manual typewriters, condition is king and a big determinant of the overall price. Sadly this fact is wholly unknown by the vast majority of people selling the typewriter they found in grandma’s attic. Knowing this fact will arm you for a much better purchasing experience as well as when it comes down to actually using them.
Sure there are a small handful of very popular portable typewriters like the Hermes 3000 or the Olympia SM3 which can go for a few hundred dollars even in bad condition, but for the most part a reasonably solid typewriter can be had for $10-75.
Too many people will also use the useless word “rare” to describe their typewriter for sale. This really only applies to some of the earliest typewriters from before 1920 which broadly aren’t as available now. Almost everything made from the 1930s on was mass produced in the hundreds of thousands or even millions, so applying the word rare is silly. Some colors or typefaces may be uncommon, but they are not rare and it usually doesn’t take too long to find multiple versions of the same thing for sale. None of the recommendations suggested here would ever be considered rare or even uncommon by any standard.
Balance of Budget, Time, and Facility with Cleaning machines
Your first typewriter is sure to be the balance of several variables including your particular budget, the amount of time you want to invest finding and then potentially fixing up your machine, and the facility you may have (or not) for cleaning and potentially repairing your typewriter yourself. Self-repair is certainly doable and there are significant resources for helping out the novice, but it does take some time, patience, and a few tools.
Budget Range
I’ll split the typewriter space up into the budget ranges based on what the buyer may have for potentially spending on a typewriter. This is NOT a split of historical budget ranges indicating the quality of the typewriters themselves. For example, in its day, an Olympia SG3 would have been at the higher end of the typewriter market while the highly mass produced Brother JP-1 typewriters would have been considered budget models by comparison. Today, with careful shopping, you could foreseeably purchase both in equivalent condition for the same $25, though to the user, the Olympia SG3 will obviously be more performant particularly for longer typing sessions.
Low budget is $10-75. For this range, one can get a typewriter that is generally functional, but which assuredly needs to be cleaned, properly lubricated, and possibly adjusted. (Remember: lesser condition usually means lower price.) To stay within this range, you’re going to need to be both willing and able to do some basic cleaning and potentially minor repairs yourself.
This isn’t to say that you wouldn’t stumble across a near mint Olympia SM3 that you can pick up at a yard sale for $15 and it needs no work at all, but it won’t be an every day occurrence. You’ll likely need to invest some reasonable time in searching for such a thing.
Medium budget might be $76-349. In this range you should be able to acquire a reasonable machine which you might then take to a local repair shop to get a reasonable servicing and repair or adjust any issues your “new-to-you” typewriter may have. This range should cover the cost of the machine as well as the servicing in most cases. Most repair shops charge in the $40-75/hour range and can do some miracles in just a few hours.
High budget is generally in the $350-600 range and for this amount you should be receiving a vintage machine in good to excellent cosmetic condition which has been thoroughly cleaned, oiled, and adjusted. It should function as well as it possibly can for regular daily use.
It’s quite likely that you’ll currently find some solid value in this range as some repair shops will be selling machines like the Hermes 3000 in excellent shape while online auctions for them in dreadful shape are almost as expensive.
Beyond the high range, you’re going to be looking at more exotic machines which are much less common, which have had higher levels of restoration work (usually all the rubber replaced and the platens recovered), or which have less common typefaces (script, Vogue, Techno, Gothic, etc.). As this tends to be more rarified space of collectors or those with very specific tastes, I won’t delve deeper here.
Typewriter Recommendations
In another article, I’ve gone deeper into the difference between standard typewriters, portable typewriters, and ultraportable typewriters. In this section, I’ll focus primarily on recommendations for writers who are looking for one (or maybe two) high quality typewriters for regular (daily or weekly) and heavy (several hours a day) use. This means these machines will tend toward the higher end of quality and manufacturing in the middle of the 20th century at the peak of typewriter engineering and manufacturing from the 1930s into the 1970s.
While some of these recommendations may be useful to collectors, there is such a much wider space of collectible typewriters and reasons for collecting them, that such an analysis is a much bigger topic. For those just dipping their feet into the world of collecting, I’ll recommend Richard Polt’s excellent book The Typewriter Revolution (Countryman Press, 2015).
Standard Typewriters
If you’re a serious writer, you’re sure to find a smoother and better experience with a standard typewriter, but they’re slightly larger and heavier (~30 pounds vs. ~15-22 pounds) than the portables. The benefit is that they almost always have the broadest range of features that a writer will ever need. These are usually the ones I recommend if you’re typing for several hours on end and have a dedicated space for your writing. Standards aren’t as popular with most collectors, so they also tend to be less expensive as a general rule.
I personally really love my fully restored Royal KMG, Royal HH, and Royal FP, as well as my Olympia SG3, my Remington Standard, Remington Super-Riter, and Remington 17 which are all rock solid writing machines. I’m still on the hunt for an Olympia SG1, which many collectors consider to be one of the best typewriters ever manufactured.
Here are some of the other more common standards for serious writers to consider by a knowledgeable restorer:
Portable Typewriters
I’d generally endorse most of the advice on the lighter, portable models you’ll find in the following resources. They are geared specifically toward writers, and all three have lots experience and reasonable bona fides to make such recommendations.
In this space, you may want to take some care for the particular models you consider as not all of them will have features like a tabulator (tab stops) to make indenting text easier, especially if you’re a screenwriter or playwright who needs this sort of functionality every few lines. (A tab button on the keyboard is a solid enough indicator that a machine has this functionality.)
Among the most commonly recommended portable typewriters are the Olympia SM2, SM3, and SM4 (all very similar, but slightly different in their tabulator functionality or lack thereof in the case of the SM2), Hermes 3000, Olympia SM7, Olympia SM9, the Smith-Corona Super and Smith-Corona Silent Super (5 Series machines), the Adler Tippa and Tippa S, the Royal Quiet De Luxe, and the Remington Quiet-Riter.
Ultraportable typewriters
While these can be interesting and pretty as well as easy to carry, most serious writers are not going to love typing on them for extended periods. They might be a nice secondary machine for traveling around and getting something done, but I wouldn’t recommend one as a first or second machine for most writers.
Where to buy a typewriter?
Repair shops
Your very best bet for a first typewriter (and even subsequent ones) is to go to a repair shop that also sells machines. Doing this will give you the chance to put your hands on them, try them out, ask lots of questions, then buy your favorite from a variety of machines. Your shopping time is worth money and productivity, so buy something you like out of the gate and you’ll save a lot in the long run. You’ll probably be happier and better off in the long run with something in the $200-600 range serviced from a repair shop. It will also give you something you can start using right away to get work done rather than faffing about with cleaning or potential small repairs, which can take up valuable time for the new and uninitiated.
There are a variety of online shops, many associated with repair shops, as well as individual sellers and antique stores that sell typewriters on independent websites. These can be particularly good as they’ll often have a level of expertise and experience in cleaning, repairing, restoring, and shipping typewriters.
I personally don’t have direct experience with any that I would specifically recommend, but they’re definitely out there and are usually marked by providing an abundance of photos and useful information about their wares.
Online Auctions and Sales Sites
An important caveat: The vast majority of sellers in the typewriter market with machines in the $40-300 range have exactly as much knowledge about them as you probably do (which for the non-collector/non-repair shop audience is to say little to none), so be incredibly wary of accepting claims that “it works” without video and photographic proof. Most are pricing their less-than-stellar typewriters based on the higher prices repair shops are selling their best serviced machines for. Don’t fall victim to this ubiquitous ruse because the seller doesn’t know better.
In this segment of the market you’ll find a huge range of potential sellers from some incredibly professional typewriter repair and restoration specialists who deal primarily online to clearing house thrift stores all the way down to typewriter flippers (those who buy a dusty, half-functioning typewriter at a yard sale for $5 and then list it on Etsy for a 1000% markup without doing any additional work) who use AI to write flashy, nostalgic descriptions of typewriters that bear no resemblance of the particular machine they’re selling and then to your neighborhood gadfly trying to sell grandma’s vintage 1950’s Smith-Corona Silent as a $3,000 antique because he “knows what he’s got” yet somehow misstates the date of manufacture as well as the model. (And if you happen to be reading this Marvin, no typewriter on the planet has the serial number H123456L, that’s the setting indicator for the touch control functionality.)
This means you might spend some time checking out how specialized the particular seller is in typewriters by looking at their past sales. Do they only sell typewriters, do they sell lots of things, or are they new accounts with only one item? The best ones will have lots of good photos of machines and cases from a variety of angles including close ups of the typeslugs, typesamples of the machine’s output, and even video of the machine in use. Serious typewriter sales people will list the serial numbers and the dates of manufacture, though many less serious sellers and “typewriter flippers” will have posted their machines to an online forum to crowdsource this information which they wouldn’t otherwise have.
This segment most deserves the warning: caveat emptor (buyer beware). If someone is selling a $500 machine that “works” without any proof and who says it “just needs new ribbon” (a simple purchase of $10 or less) hopefully shouldn’t be fooling anyone but themselves, yet I know it happens.
Facebook Marketplace is almost always local individuals, but can also include some pro shops from time to time. Prices can often be 2-3x what they ought to be, but you can visit machines in person, try them out, and negotiate things down based on the actual condition.
Craigslist.com is a reasonable space and often very much like Facebook Marketplace with a poorer UI.
eBay is an online auction space where some very professional repair people auction off their work along with thrift stores, antique stores, and the general public. It requires a bit of due diligence to suss out what’s being offered and the condition, but usually doesn’t allow the ability to actually test out the machine and see the exact condition first hand. There is a bit of protection if the shipped product doesn’t live up to the hype. Be careful of inexpensive “buy now” listings with exorbitant shipping prices in the $100+ range.
Etsy can have some excellent listings from a range of sellers, but it also tends toward the more expensive pricing end of the spectrum for what you end up receiving. Again, you can’t try before you buy here.
Offerup is a broad platform similar to Marketplace and Craigslist with some reasonable listings. Sadly some of the listings can be old and out of date or the seller is no longer paying attention to their account.
ShopGoodwill.com is a platform run by Goodwill that usually has a wide variety of dozens of machines every day from across the country. In addition to not being able to try before you buy, it can be very hit or miss to attempt to judge a machine’s condition solely on just a few photos. The level of expertise on typewriters is generally abysmally low here, so the level of detail about the machines for the non-expert is equally low and the packaging and shipment can be a problem in 10-20% of orders. This being said, one can get some excellent deals on standards on a regular basis in the $10-30 range and portables in the $30-60 range, particularly if you purchase from a local Goodwill that will allow the arrangement of an in-person pick up. This gets around $20-50 shipping fees and the potentiality of damage in shipping. Some of the higher end portables like the Olympia SM3 will go for $120 in unknown condition while the Hermes 3000 can go for $250 or more. At these rates, you’re far more likely to get better value by buying at a local repair shop.
Surely there are many other online options not listed here. I’m sure people will mention a few with caveats and reviews in the comments.
Yard Sales & Estate Sales
You can find some really great machines at yard sales and estate sales, but the trade off is the time and effort you need to invest in searching for them, particularly if you have an idea of something specific you’re looking for. Here you’re trading the cheapness of a working $10-20 machine for a lot of searching time. Naturally this option probably isn’t the best one to take if you’re getting a typewriter as a gift for someone’s birthday this weekend. You’ll want to plan ahead and give yourself several weeks or months to hunt around for the right thing.
Sometimes sellers will think their machines are more valuable, but usually the $50-100+ machines can be negotiated down to a more reasonable $5-25 range. Usually if it’s out, it’s something they want to sell or get rid of.
With this route you can also directly put your hands on machines and at least test things out pretty thoroughly before committing to buying. If something is dirty or broken, you’ll see that pretty quickly compared to attempting to buy something poorly listed online. Be sure to bring your own paper and maybe even ribbon for testing if this is what you’re shopping for.
Thrift Stores and Antique Stores
These can be a great source for inexpensive and functional machines. Depending on the outlet, Antique stores will have a somewhat larger markup and won’t negotiate down as much as they ought to.
Type-ins
While in person type-ins aren’t terribly frequent, they can be great places to meet other typewriter afficionados and get the chance to try out others’ machines to see what sort of typewriter feels best to you. It’s not uncommon for participants to buy, sell, and trade typewriters at these events.
Typewriter Service
Beyond the basic regular maintenance of keeping dust out of your machine and occasionally changing your ribbon, you may require the service of a professional shop for your initial purchase. This can be a relatively quick and inexpensive way to bring a machine up to fighting shape after decades of dusty disuse. It also does a lot more to support the broader art and craft of repair and the typewriter community.
If you’re handy and have even a bit of a mechanical bent, you can take advantage of a wide variety of online repair manuals [1][2] and cleaning advice, repair resources and advice including a huge number of YouTube tutorials for almost every typewriter out there. Doing this can be incredibly cost effective, but it always helps to have a relationship with your local shop for potential repair parts or maybe even a loaner if you need one.
If nothing else, it can also be inspiring as writer (or if you’re giving it as a gift) for the new typewriter’s owner to have an idea of other writers who have used that machine in the past.
As an example, I find it inspiring that the Royal KMG I use regularly was manufactured from 1949-1952, and was known to have also been used by writers including Saul Bellow, Edward Abbey, Joan Didion, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Mister Rogers, Rod Sterling, Carl Reiner, Grace Metalious, Wallace Stenger, John Ashbery, and George Sheehan.
For the first time buyer, particularly with time constraints, it may seem like shipping a great looking machine is an excellent idea for the pittance of $20-40. Poor packaging of typewriters by untrained or ill-educated online shops is one of the leading deaths of typewriters. Even reasonably well packed machines can be dramatically damaged in shipment, so unless you’re purchasing from a shop that has lots of experience in shipping typewriters, save the money and hassle and buy something locally that you can pick up.
If you want to go deeper into the world of typewriters, collecting, using, repairing or even talking about them, I keep a list of useful typewriter resources.
Questions?
Hopefully this has been a reasonably thorough precis of all the things I wish I had known before buying my first typewriter and encapsulates a lot of basic typewriter knowledge I’ve accumulated throughout the first fifty machines spanning my typewriter collection. If you have additional questions, feel free to ask below.
In the meanwhile, just jump in and start looking around. Good luck and happy hunting!
Within the typewriter space there are three broad categories of typewriters primarily based on size:
Standard (or office or desktop) typewriters were designed and meant for use in a stationary location, most often an office where they would be used for 8 hours a day (or more), every day of the work week. These typewriters, often tipping the scales at 25-40 pounds each, were made to take the heavy abuse of a daily typing and could be “pounded out” for 3-4 years before they were often given overhauls or remanufactured.
Portable typewriters were designed for greater portability and began appearing in the 1920s and in much greater numbers into the 1970s and early 1980s. Their sales were geared toward people who needed greater portability or who didn’t need a machine out on a daily basis the way in which businesses did. They were most often sold in small rectangular cases to aid in their portability as well as storability in cars, trains, airplanes, or even one’s closet when they weren’t in use. They often ranged from 15-25 pounds including their case. Most of these machines were sold to individual users for occasional rather than daily typing, and they often had a broader range of styling and colors throughout the years to appeal to the individual buyers.
Ultraportable typewriters were designed for the typist or writer constantly on the go. They typically had a low profile, were lightweight (under 15 pounds with their cases), and obviously easy to carry around on a regular basis. These machines generally didn’t have all of the frills or features of their larger counterparts but obviously got the job done well enough. Traveling journalists were originally one of the primary audiences here.
Which is better?
The “best” typewriter is going to be a highly personal choice. It will be based in part on a wide variety of factors and variables including:
the condition (does it function? how does it function? how clean is it? have parts been replaced, repaired, or restored? is it serviced? is it well adjusted?);
what your preference is in terms of functionality (do you need tabs? bichrome ribbon? card fingers? typeface? other?);
your personal touch preference (how it feels to you when you type on it, how you enjoy and appreciate it);
the price;
your personal aesthetic (do you like older machines, newer machines, something with a pop of color versus industrial office drab, crinkle paint versus flat, metal versus plastic, and a slew of other design sensibilities, etc.)
how are you using your typewriters? Are you actively using them to write, collecting them, displaying them, or a combination of all of these?
Beyond these variables the three broad categories of typewriters will differentiate themselves along the lines of size, portability, and design, and manufacturing quality, functionality, and durability.
Size, Portability, and Design
Obviously the smaller and lighter a machine is, the easier it is to carry. The ultraportables and portables will win out here. They’re designed to be moved around easily: pop it out, write, put it away when you’re done. Collectors love them because you can store or display them easily on shelves or stack them up in closets or other storage spaces. You can keep several dozen machines on a shelving unit or tuck them away under a bed or behind a couch.
Standard machines are moveable, but require some additional reasonable effort. It’s more bothersome to pick up a Royal HH, especially with a wide carriage, and move it across the house from your office to your living room or out onto the porch. It’s equally as bothersome to swap one standard from a display shelf with another so you can use it. This doesn’t mean that it can’t be done, but you’re not as likely to want to do it every day. With standards you plan to actively use on a regular basis, you’re going to want a permanent desk or typewriter stand to keep it on. If you’re storing or displaying standards, they require dusting maintenance or covers and take up much more space as they aren’t easily stackable. Standards tend to be deeper and require a larger shelf if you’re going to display them that way. (Be sure to measure as most standard bookshelves aren’t deep enough for most typewriters if that’s how you intend to display them.)
If you’re a day-to-day typist with only one or two typewriters, these problems aren’t terribly bad. If you’re a collector with 5-10 machines these considerations start to become more bothersome. Once you’ve got more than 25 machines in your collection, you’re going to want to start making different choices and plans about storage and display versus use.
When it comes to design, there are a lot more choices of body styles, colors, materials, and variety in the portable and ultraportable space. Even if the internals of a portable were relatively stable, the body styles and shapes changed every year or two. By comparison, the standard typewriters meant for office use tended to have more limited color palates (if you could call industrial blacks, grays, and browns a palate) and body stylings.
As an example, in the Royal line of standard typewriters, almost nothing changed functionality-wise from the Royal Ten through the H (and related KH, KHM, and KHT variants), KMM, KMG, HH, FP, Empress, and 440. This covers from about 1912 to 1968 with the same internal mechanics. It was just small changes in the body styles which moved very slowly and were generally only offered in one or two colors until the more colorful options on the Royal FP were introduced in the very late 1950s.
Manufacturing, Quality, Functionality, and Durability
The level of manufacturing and quality when it comes to typewriter categories is a much more subtle subject as it’s not as immediately seen as the size and portability factors.
Because of their use cases, standard machines were built with more solid materials using higher manufacturing tolerances and usually better quality steel (or other materials). They were designed to be pounded on every day for 8 or more hours a day for years at a time. While some portables may have been used this way, most weren’t and surely almost no ultraportables were. Most of the serious abuse that smaller and lighter machines took was generally to their cases in being moved around as well as to the various body panels from being put into and out of their cases. (Smith-Corona portables are notorious for scratches on the rear panels from the rear metal cleat in their cases and some of the Remingtons’ front “chins” from the late 40s case designs.)
Standards use in business also meant that the alignments and visual outputs were held to higher standards than their lighter counterparts which were more often used for personal correspondence or draft quality work. This required better tolerances to allow for the abuse versus the expected type quality and alignment. The quality differences are less apparent on some of the 1950 American made Smith-Corona 5 series or the incredibly well engineered German Olympias and Swiss Hermes portables of the 1950s and 1960s.
The quality issue becomes rapidly more apparent into the 1970s and 1980s when cheaper materials and plastic were being used in portable typewriter manufacture as machines were being mass produced by only a few companies and primarily only out of Japan. These quality issues are now at their zenith in the new millennium with cheap typewriters made by the Shanghai Weilv Mechanism Company in China. Their new typewriter offerings under a variety of brand names including Rover, Royal Epoch, We R Memory Keepers, Royal Classic, and The Oliver Typewriter Company are widely known in the typewriter community for their dreadful quality control, cheap plastic, and both poor and unserviceable type alignment issues.
Because they had additional interior space and engineering capacity, standards also have better adjustment points for accommodating a variety of touch needs for the end user. At the time, most standards were generally serviced in-house by travelling repair people who had the ability to help typists adjust the machines to their particular touch needs. I’ve yet to run across a portable Smith-Corona whose primary touch control actually effectuated any difference at all, though they do have a variety of other more subtle/hidden touch controls which require advanced knowledge of the machines.
From a functionality perspective also differentiated across their use cases, most standard typewriters came with the full component of features offered in typewriters of their respective times. As an example, standards almost always came with tabulators and easier exchangeability of platens. Portable models often used tabulators as an additional mark up feature that cost more if you wanted them and platens were not easily swapped except on the highest end models and generally not until later into the 1950s. Here the range of subtle feature differences seen on the Smith-Corona 5 series portables is illustrative with the Clipper at the low end followed by the Sterling, the Silent, and the Silent Super at the highest end with the most features. On the German Olympias, the primary differentiating feature between the SM2, SM3, and SM4 is tabulator functionality and how easy it is to use if it’s available. Other features like bichrome ribbon, sturdier paper bales, paper table alignment features were considered optional on some portables and wholly missing on ultraportables which may have left them out completely. If you’re looking for a machine that has everything, usually a standard typewriter is your go-to choice. One of the few options on standard machines was a decimal tabulator for aligning accounting-based work.
While it may not have been as obvious in the midcentury, there are very subtle functionalities that standard typewriters offer to modern users who are looking for distraction-free writing affordances. While all typewriters have a greater level of distraction-free affordances in comparison to computers, standards offer two additional ones which may be wholly overlooked. As they’re less portable, they usually require a dedicated space for use which tends to call out to (or alternately guilt) the writer to sit down and concentrate on writing. The other is that the standard’s significantly larger size takes up a larger amount of area in your field of view while sitting at it. This tends to cut down on other visual distractions to the writer while sitting at the machine and working. Less distraction helps the concentration and, ideally, your ultimate output.
Finally, it bears a moment to look at typewriter serviceability. This is especially important now as the once ubiquitous typewriter repair shop doesn’t exist and aficionados and hobbyists do a lot of home repair. Since standard office machines saw near-constant use, their size made them much easier to get into and service, particularly by traveling repair technicians. Portables and ultraportables are much smaller and far more compact which requires more work and effort to open up and service when things go wrong or need repair. This size difference also means requiring a lot more patience and care as well as possibly smaller and/or different tools when doing service work on portables and ultraportables.
Hopefully this covers most of the finer points in choosing between the three broad types of typewriters for both the novice typist as well as the more practiced hands. If you’ve got questions or have noticed other subtleties in the differences between the three, I’d love to hear them.
Fortunately, before I had started I was aware of a possibly little known feature called the Fold-A-Matic. I came across the idea of the Fold-A-Matic while looking at other Remington Standards and Super-Riters on the TypewriterDatabase. This led me to a photo of James Groom‘s typewriter and a post by Ted Munk which had a diagram from a Remington repair manual. The fun of the feature is that by loosening a few screws, removing a few others, the entirety of the back end of the typewriter including the carriage folds open allowing easy access to almost all the parts of the typewriter. This means it’s far easier to clean, oil, and adjust almost everything on the machine.
Typewriter manual page from a 1960s Remington 19 typewriter.
So instead of spending a day and a half cleaning out a typewriter, I managed to do it in about half a day.
Since I didn’t come across any great photos of the machine opened up, I thought I’d document some of that process along the way.
From the Remington Standard Typewriter Repair section of AMES Basic Training Manual for Standard Typewriters by Murray Harris (January, 1968) https://typewriterdatabase.com/1968-Ames_Standard_SVC.remington-repair.manual
To begin, one needs to loosen the screws that hold the top of the left and right body panels onto the typewriter. They can then be leaned out and quickly removed.
Next one removes the two screws (the rear ones labeled B in Monk’s diagram) on either side that hold the rear cover in place. It too pivots on a small piece of metal at the bottom so it can be easily lifted off and removed.
Next one can remove two screws in the carriage area (labeled A in Monk’s diagram), the other two “B” screws and the “C” screws on either side. Finally, one then loosens the two “D” screws at the back rear corners of the typewriters. It’s important that these should only be loosened a few turns as they’re used as a pivot to hold the rear of the typewriter in place. They could certainly be completely removed, but it takes some work to get everything aligned and back together again.
Now you can fold down the entirety of the rear of the typewriter, thereby opening it up for cleaning and adjustment. Of course, not everything is accessible in this configuration, but by removing the ribbon hood or flipping the machine over, the majority of the typewriter components are readily reached. This procedure takes just a minute compared to about 10-20 minutes of work to get other machines apart into a somewhat similar state. You save this time again on the other end when putting things back together. The other benefit is that so much of the machine can be easily reached and adjusted that less tweaking is required along the way. It cut my cleaning process roughly in half.
Missing/Broken Screws
One of the issues my particular model has is that the rear cover didn’t seem to have any means of holding it on. There were holes in the left and right side, but there didn’t appear to be any way for them to be used to hold the rear cover onto the machine. While cleaning, I discovered both of the screw heads (shoulder bolts, in fact) had been shorn off. Fortunately the screws were long enough that they exited the opposite side of their mounts, so I was able to easily remove them. I’ll have to find some replacement screws.
Historical Servicing
Given the age of the machine, the small chips and dings in the paint or the wear on some of the crinkle paint, it was reasonably well-used and likely cleaned and adjusted several times. It’s been a while since the last cleaning as some of the eraser bits inside the machine have stained some of the shiny steel. But I’ll note that the amount of oil used in the last service was very light at best. There were several patches of grease used on the mechanics on the sides as well as the axel of the mainspring and in the bearing assembly for the shift mechanism. I photographed these as evidence of how this model was serviced at some point in its prior life.
Additional points
After winding through some of the ribbon, I’ve found a usable patch. I’m curious to see if the dried out parts will absorb some moisture to be usable again. We’ll see what happens, otherwise, I’m sitting on a nice mountain of new ribbon to respool onto this machine.
After cleaning, I’m noticing that the speed of the machine has picked up a bit. I’ll give it a few days of use to see how things proceed, but I suspect that it could be faster. If it doesn’t improve, I may give it a few additional drops of oil in places, a process which dramatically helped out my Royal HH a week after cleaning it out. Pending this, I also ought to take a closer look at the touch control set up functionality.
The platen on this machine has a bit of play left, but not much. It’ll probably go another few years before it’s completely rock hard. At least I don’t need to have it recovered soon.
Cleaning and adjusting got rid of the residual grinding on the carriage I was experiencing a few days ago.
In the cleaning process, I noticed that one of the poor design choices is that the panels on the carriage don’t remove as easily as they do on other machines.
I notice on the paper fingers there are separately a small hole on the left for drawing straight lines using a pen or pencil and a small triangle on the right for similar usage.
As I’ve done on some past machines, I treated the crinkle paint with WD-40 after cleaning it off. The difference is quite dramatic, though even the before and after photos don’t really do the process justice.
As ever, there are still a handful of small issues with this machine that I hope to address in the coming weeks as I use it. I like it quite a lot, and it reminds me of it’s much smaller brother, a 1957 Remington Quiet-Riter, but with some finer features. I hope to pull it out and do a direct comparison in the next few days. We’ll see how it grows on me as a machine, but at the moment, I still like my Royal KMG and HH a bit better for day-to-day use.
I’ve been wrenching on enough typewriters, that it was time to up my game again and add some new typewriter tools to the proverbial tool bag. In fact it was also time for an actual tool bag! So back on August 16th, I added a portable repair person’s leather bag and some new typewriter repair tools to my collection. For those interested in improving their skills and typewriter tools, I am documenting some of these new typewriter repair and maintenance tools. If you’re getting into the space, I highly recommend you slowly build your toolbox with items only as you need them.
With some of the harder-to-find tools, do take care as they can often be dramatically overpriced in online auctions. The more cost-conscious should be on the look out for bundles of tools which are usually much less expensive than purchasing them one at a time. Additionally if you search around a bit you might find local collectives of typewriter enthusiasts who share or loan out tools.
Save the containers of solvents and the bottles of cleaning agents, all of the items which appear on this table fit comfortably into the black leather tool carrying case.
Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag
The leather repair bag I picked up is similar to one that late century traveling repair people would have carried with them for on-site repairs and typewriter maintenance. It has a compartment in the bottom with space for three metal trays of replacement parts. It has a side pocket for manuals and any necessary service paperwork. The main compartment has a large open space for a variety of wrenches, screwdrivers, and various other tools for use on the job.
Until I create a dedicated space in the garage for typewriter repair, this bag makes an exceptionally convenient storage space for keeping all my typewriter related tools in one place. I particularly love the heavy leather and patina of it as a piece and it works reasonably well as a decorative item with the rest of the collection. Modern variations of this bag can be found at purveyors like Crawford Tool which cater to copier, fax, and electronics repair spaces. Sadly leather covered wood isn’t an option, but there are a variety of soft cover, hard cover, and even metal or military cases available, some with extensible handles and wheels.
The bag itself is in great condition given its age and general use. It certainly helps that it was incredibly well designed and made with some seriously sturdy materials. The thickness of the leather is truly astounding compared to any bag I’ve ever come across. There are one or two pieces of leather that need to be repaired or re-attached to the wooden internal frame and a button/snap that needs to be repaired. These should be easy fixes for a rainy day.
Because new stock isn’t much of a reality and I prefer to keep parts in situ on parts machines for use when needed, I haven’t been using the three metal parts containers as much as I might. Instead, I tend to use them as temporary receptacles of screws, nuts, and springs while I’m taking apart machines for restoration. This helps in keeping sections separate for easier re-assembly and having three means that I could be working on three disassembled machines at a time if I wish without getting parts from different machines confused.
Along with the bag I acquired wide variety of wrenches, screwdrivers, tweezers, and some new specialty typewriter repair tools. The specialty tools tend to the higher end of typewriter repair and adjustment that most hobbyists can manage without, but which can be useful from time to time.
Below are some of the new (and other recent) acquisitions:
Typewriter Manuals
The Manual Typewriter Repair Bible (wirebound; digital) – While there are a lot of great repair manuals out there, many specializing in one or more very specific models or series, this is probably the general repair manual you’d want in a pinch. The fact that it’s wirebound means that you can easily have it out on the bench for reference without worrying about the binding closing and losing the page you’re working on at a given moment.
Typewriter Cleaning Tools
Nylon, Brass and Steel brushes – these are good for a variety of purposes. The nylon brush is great for general cleaning an maintenance. The brass brush in combination with mineral spirits is perfect for cleaning type slugs which have heavy dirt, ribbon, and grime build-up and won’t damage the slugs. The steel brushes can be good for more aggressive cleaning of various rusted parts as necessary. Some care should be exercised though to ensure that the typebars aren’t so vigorously scrubbed that they are accidentally bent.
Chip brush – this type of soft bristled paint brush is excellent for handling dust, cobwebs, and other large debris when doing the first round of cleaning a typewriter. They’re also nice for regular weekly dusting of machines around the house.
Soft bristle fingernail brush – these have been excellent soft bristle brushes for use in cleaning typewriter external panels in conjunction with scrubbing bubbles or Simple Green cleaners. Their small size is particularly nice for getting into some of the smaller spaces that my bigger brush might miss. They’re also useful for getting the grease and grime underneath your fingernails after a day of wrenching on typewriters.
Libman curved hand brush – this has been excellent for scrubbing the exterior body panels of typewriters, particularly those with crinkle paint. The bristles are firm enough to scrub and get into small spaces without damaging the paint and stand up to some repeated use.
Cotton cleaning rags – these are excellent for a variety of cleaning uses, they’re fairly ubiquitous at hardware stores (especially the paint section), and definitely beat Q-tips for ease of use as well as cost.
General Typewriter Tools
4 pair of precision AA tweezers – these needle tipped tweezers are excellent for holding onto small pieces including small nuts or washers which sometimes need delicate handling while screwing screws into them. They can also be used for type slug soldering if necessary.
Needle nose pliers, duckbill pliers, and general purpose pliers – the bag came with duplicates of some of the sort I’d already had.
Screwdrivers – the bag came with a plethora of variously sized screwdrivers (mostly flathead), but I find they’re not as useful as some of my smaller precision screwdrivers which I use more frequently.
Jensen 8 piece open end ignition wrench set (with 7/32, 15/64, 1/4, 9/32, 5/16, 11/32, 3/8, and 7/16 wrenches) for handling a variety of small nuts.
Specialty Typewriter Tools
Below are some of the more specialty and harder-to-find typewriter tools I’ve acquired, most of which came with the repair bag.
Two T-bar benders/link benders/type bar twisters – These thin bars with slots in the bottom and a T-bar at the top are used for bending or twisting a variety of typewriter parts which may need to be gently formed (typewriter repair-speak for bent).
Royal S-39 Ribbon Vibrator Arm Bender – This thin metal tool has two small slots cut into it for forming the Ribbon Vibrator Arms on Royals, but can be useful for forming a variety of thin metal parts. (see p. 360 of The Manual Typewriter Repair Bible)
Eyelet tool for putting small metal eyelets into typewriter ribbon. Generally I use this for Smith-Corona and other typewriters whose auto-reverse ribbon mechanisms are actuated by the metal gromets placed into the ends of typewriter ribbon spools. I picked this up when I switched from using pre-spooled ribbon to buying bulk ribbon and spooling it by hand.
I primarily use these to clean out the internals of most of my machines. Obviously care should be used to protect paint, plastic, and non-metal portions from these caustic solvents.
In cases where spattering or soaking issues may occur, I’ll use vaseline or other grease to cover up painted surfaces or decals so they’re not damaged, or I’ll cover things up (like keyboards with plastic or glass keys with paper legends) with thicker towels for brief exposures where soaking through isn’t a big concern. In some quick cases, like the painted logos on segments, I’ll just cover them with small pieces of packing tape which are easily removable without causing damage.
To help cut down on excessive use of these caustic chemicals, I make use of small plastic oilers with a long thin spouts to better limit and control the amounts of solvent I’m using. These are also useful for more accurately dispensing solvents onto small and specific parts.
Remember that these solvents should only be used in very well ventilated spaces and away from open flames or sparks which can easily ignite them and cause fires. Repeated exposure to the fumes of these materials can damage your lungs.
Mineral spirits
Lacquer Thinner
Acetone
PB B’laster – this is great, but has a more pungent, lingering smell than some of the other solvents
Cleaners
Scrubbing Bubbles – this is great for typewriter exteriors including crinkle paint and plastic of most sorts
Simple Green – a great cleaner and degreaser for removing decades of dirt, grime, and nicotine from the metal exterior of a wide variety of machines
Oil
Premium Sewing Machine Oil – this is great in sparing quantities for typewriter carriages and linkages which require lubrication. The pull-out extended spout is excellent for accessing the hard-to-reach interior parts of typewriters, particularly if they’re fully assembled.
Rem Oil – This aerosol-based oil is excellent for cleaning, lubricating, and providing corrosion protection for difficult to reach typewriter internals, particularly when you don’t have need to strip an entire machine down.
As ever, following up oil applications with compressed air can assist in thinning down oil on parts so that over-oiling and dramatic oil build-up doesn’t occur.
WD-40
Most will know of the regular caveats and admonitions about not using WD-40 to lubricate a typewriter, especially the segment. (Hint, it’s for Water Displacement—thus the abbreviation WD—and isn’t a lubricant.) However, WD-40 does work pretty well on crinkle paint finishes to provide both some protection as well as shine.
The clean front panel of a 1950 Royal KMG in gray frieze paint contrasted with the dust covers one of which is covered in 70 years of dust, dirt, tar, and hair and the other cleaned and sparkling after a treatment with WD-40.
Future
I’m still on the lookout for some keyring pliers for both round and tombstone keys as well as a variety of peening wrenches, but my general need for these has been relatively low for most of the work I’ve done thus far. It’s also a somewhat larger investment, but I really want a nice air compressor for more easily cleaning out machines. I’m also curious to do some research on durometer gauges for testing platen hardness and creating some guidelines about when to replace hardened platens. I’d love guidance on anyone who has researched this area before.
I’m also hovering on the border of doing professional typewriter repair part time on the side. I only have so much space to store repaired and restored machines of my own, and I feel guilty about restored machines sitting around unused. But I also enjoy tearing them down, repairing them, and restoring them back to their former glory. Why not turn my hobby into a part time gig for helping out others and carrying along the craft of typewriter maintenance, repair and restoration? It would also allow me the ability to work on a broader variety of machines.
What typewriter tools are in your collection, and, most importantly, how are you using them?
I always love hearing ideas, tips, and suggestions for making the work of typewriter maintenance and repair easier and more accessible for the home mechanic.
Editor’s note: This is another article in a recuring series of typewriter articles about typewriter use, collecting, repair, restoration, and maintenance. If the subject is of interest, feel free to delve into more of that collection.
As some typewriter collectors have realized there is a typewriter revolution going on out there. This means that there’s a growing need for people who can clean, maintain, repair, and restore typewriters. If this sounds like something you’re interested in doing, there are a huge number of resources out there that you can tap into to figure out how to do all of this work on your own.
I’ve been wrenching on my own typewriters for several years and gotten deeper into the hobby over the past six months, so I thought I’d do a brain dump and outline some of the basic resources for those who are interested either in fixing up their own machines or potentially considering starting a repair shop.
Crash course on typewriter maintenance and repair
A list of resources and references for the budding typewriter repair person. There is a lot here that I’ve compiled and consumed, so don’t be overwhelmed. Half the battle is figuring out where to find all these things, so if nothing else, this should shave off a month or two of reading and researching.
Basic Introductory Material
Get a notebook and be ready to take some notes so you’ll remember where you found the random information you’re bound to pick up over time and are able to occasionally review it.
First watch this video on how a mechanical typewriter works. While it’s specific to the early Underwoods, the general mechanisms on almost all other typewriters are broadly similar.
Work your way through Sarah Everett’s excellent Typewriter 101 videos (at least the first five).
Read Richard Polt’s book which is a great overview to the general space:
Next watch the documentary California Typewriter (Gravitas Pictures, 2016). It has some interesting subtle material hiding within it, but it will give you a good idea of where you’re headed off to. [YouTube copy; Archive.org copy]
Get a machine (or four) you can practice on. Get a flat head screwdriver and maybe a small adjustable wrench. Buy some mineral spirits and a small headed toothbrush and clean out your first machine. Buy some light sewing machine oil and try oiling it. Search YouTube for videos about how to repair anything that may be wrong with it. Usually 98% of the issues with most typewriters these days is that they need to be cleaned out.
Create an account on The Typewriter Database which will give you some additional access to catalogs, manuals, and dealer catalogs beyond what is available without an account.
If you intend to buy a bunch of these, you can get a discount by being a member of Ted Munk’s Patreon site. His personal website also has a plethora of ephemera that is often useful.
Richard Polt’s list of free service manuals and books also includes some correspondence course typewriter repair classes which are meant for the self-taught. Most typewriters are very similar so picking a good generic text that covers the basics is the best place to start before branching out to specific repair manuals for particular models.
Tools can be expensive, so start out small with just a few things and expand as you need them. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish with a single thin bladed flathead screwdriver, an adjustable wrench, a rag, a bottle of Simple Green cleaning solution, and a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. Most people probably already have these tools at home.
Videos
Subscribe to and become acquainted with YouTube channels like the following:
While watching a variety of videos is great, as you’re doing specific repairs search YouTube and you’re likely to find full demos of the repairs you’re doing yourself. This is where having a solid knowledge of typewriter parts and terminology can be useful. Almost every typewriter manual ever written has a diagram with the parts labeled. Hints for a Happy Typewriter has a pretty good set of typewriter terms to get you started.
I’ve compiled a playlist of videos for repair of an Olympia SM3 which, while specific to the SM3, is a an excellent outline/overview of how to disassemble a portable typewriter, where many of the adjustment points are as well as an outline of the order to do them in.
United States Navy Training Films
If you’re not a good typist or don’t have experience in the area, try out some of the following short films which will also provide some useful historical perspective:
The good news is that historically very few typewriter mechanics were also touch typists, but you should still be able to hunt and peck and understand the needs of your customers.
Internships & Apprenticeships
If you have the time and flexibility try arranging an internship or apprenticeship with a local typewriter repair shop. Meet your local repair people even if you can’t spend the time on an internship. You’ll learn a lot and create relationships with businesses who will more easily swap/supply you with machines they’re parting out or access to tools which may otherwise be difficult to source.
Hausrath, Alfred H., and Eugene L. Dahl. Typewriter Care. Edited by Walter K.M. Slavik. Federal Work Improvement Program United States Civil Service Commission and Government Division, U.S. Treasury Department, 1945.
I started the process of cleaning my green 1958 Olympia SM3 to bring it back up to speed. Things are generally moving apace although the mixture of eraser shavings and old oil has tarnished the carriage rails. Spent some time with some metal polish trying to bring them back to their old glory. Should be able to finish flushing out tomorrow and getting it back together and properly adjusted.
Here’s a bit of a time lapse of the work:
More progress on the 1931 New Orga (Privat 5): he types! I found some compatible spools and ribbon. Given the Orga typewriter from the movie, I thought this Willy Wonka quote was apropos both as the first type sample and as encouragement for the remainder of the restoration mountain ahead.
I realized tonight that I’ve got some reasonably thick waxed cord for use in leatherwork hiding in the craft drawer. (I chose purple in honor of Willy Wonka.) I’ve strung it up on the new New Orga and gotten the carriage moving again as it types! Hopefully it’ll last.
The Orga Privat 5‘s mainspring and drawband assembly is very similar to that of the Smith-Corona 5 series, but is imminently more accessible and easier to attach. You can see and access all the major parts for basic repair without removing anything.
The mainspring here seems to be fine. The catgut-type drawstring seemed long enough to work, though it seemed a tad damaged from having been pinched into the mainspring hub assembly. I tried looping a slipknot to attach it at the metal tab/channel on the right side of the carriage (left when looking from the back). However when adding tension to the mainspring, the drawstring predictably broke about halfway through.
I’ll need to get some fishing line to completely replace the drawband and get this working again.
Looking from the back, the silver knurled wheel on the right can be turned clockwise to tension the mainspring and there’s a silver thumb lever right next to it that can be used to slowly let off tension when necessary. I recommend using either rubber gloves or some similar scheme to protect your fingers against the thin knurled wheel which gets tougher to turn/tighten as you progress.
Let’s think about a few of the factors at play when it comes to cleaning and oiling advice for typewriters. Two major factors at play are knowledge (and its dispersal) and the availability of materials and tools.
Most typists are hobbyists coming to the space with little to no knowledge. Often they’re further hampered by the fact that they don’t have the original manual for their machine and so can’t look up the original equipment manufacturer’s recommendations even if they existed in the original manual. Hint: few manuals gave good advice about this other than to wipe them down weekly and not to let eraser cast-offs go into the machine—anyone who’s had a few typewriters knows how that advice went over historically. Other manuals will recommend regular or annual servicing by technicians who aren’t as ubiquitous as they were back in the day.
Perhaps we ought to harken back to early World War II when typewriter manufacture ceased the first time, typewriter donations to the war effort went up thereby making them more valuable on the domestic front, and the typewriter repair workforce went off to the front? The U.S. Government made a concerted effort to help preserve and protect the machines in circulation with both the War Department making and circulating films and the Treasury Department publishing manuals like Typewriter Care (1945).
When modern typists do get information, it’s often colloquial and under-informed or it’s based on someone’s everyday experience elsewhere or grounded in some small amount of common sense. Many times its outright bad. This is why so many people will turn to everyday household items like rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs, gun oil, sewing machine oil, 3-and-1 oil, and WD-40 to clean and lubricate their machines. These items have been used for these purposes in other arenas and they’re often readily available in the average users’ homes. This readiness to hand will almost always beat a trip to a specialized store to purchase custom solvents, oils, and/or appropriate cleaning tools and dispensers with which they have less first-hand knowledge.
Worse, solid cleaning and lubricating advice by modern day typewriter repair people isn’t easily found or uncovered. (Though it does happen sometimes.) Even if it were, they’d all have a variety of suggestions and practices which were individualized based on their own experience and training as well as the time period in which they learned and practiced it. There are a few good ones on YouTube, but broadly they’re not recognized by a more mainstream public. The few in the type-o-sphere who are better known also have a variety of techniques and methods, and frequently have more custom tools and dispensers at hand than the average home mechanic/typist.
We also don’t have books like Hints for a Happy Typewriter (Bryan Kravitz, 1983), which dispenses some relatively useful advice to the average home typist when manual typewriters were still in use, but about to wane with the increasing ubiquity of electric machines, and the advent of word processors and computers. Even in this brief primer, some of the suggestions would seem quaint for the current home typist-mechanic who now ought to have more knowledge at their disposal and may not be able to rely on a local repair shop being just around the corner.
A search for “how to clean a typewriter” unearths a variety of really good resources in the top 10 hits including the typosphere’s Richard Polt‘s excellent advice. Yet somehow people want to ask on Reddit everyday without searching either the internet or the Reddit sub itself because advice from complete strangers with no bona-fides is somehow really valuable in a field of practice which hasn’t advanced a lot in the last 50 years.
Many years have passed since the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) made these machines, and during that time, materials for cleaning and servicing them have shifted and changed. In some cases they don’t exist anymore, or have changed and become better.
As an example, in the early years, typewriter manufacturers including this Underwood manual from 1920 recommend using gasoline to clean one’s type slugs. This was common practice until Stoddard’s formula (aka Varsol) was invented in 1924 for safer use in dry cleaning. Surely no one is using gasoline anymore despite the ubiquity of gasoline in our environment. It’s highly flammable, it’s difficult to dispense, and it smells dreadful. Surely it had gone out of vogue by the time of the OPEC oil embargo in 1973.
Later on people used Roytype Typewriter Type Cleaner in 2 ounce bottles which was touted as “non inflammable”! I’m sure that 2 ounces of Roytype cleaner was priced higher than a gallon of mineral spirits today. If you’re a purist, perhaps you’re buying new original stock (NOS) online, but at a crazy mark up?
Another bygone example comes from Kravitz’s 1983 home handbook mentioned above which, in addition to alcohol, recommends the use of trichloroethane as a solvent for cleaning type slugs and internals. Trichloroethane manufacture and use has almost completely disappeared since 1996, when it was identified by the Montreal Protocol as a contributor to ozone depletion.
When mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, and other industrial solvents are reasonably available, they’re often in large cans and require transfer into smaller bottles with custom tips for more easily dispensing into typewriters. Taking the time to do this with a good brass-bristled brush is additional work when compared to the alcohol and Q-tips or extra toothbrushes that most people already have at home.
Then most of the common advice about these more caustic degreasers includes the fact that they shouldn’t be put on platens, plastic, paint, decals, or other surfaces which can cause them to dissolve, melt, or otherwise damage them. How many home mechanics are going to remove the requisite typewriter body pieces to properly clean their machines when most are afraid of taking off even the most easily removed screws on body panels? Fear of destroying the exterior of their machines is demotivating. It’s even more demotivating when you take it all off, clean it out, put it back together only to realize the next day your keys are still sticky and need an additional treatment (or two). Was blowing the solvents and dissolved dirt and oil out with compressed air really that necessary? (Yes) Why didn’t anyone tell me I should wait a half a day or more to make sure it would really be fully cleaned out?
Storage and usage conditions also need to be taken into account, both for the products as well as for the typewriters themselves.
Many solvents are not only toxic, but highly flammable. In the case of most (and especially substances like gasoline and naphtha, which is literally used as lighter fluid) care needs to be taken to prevent potential fires as well as having proper ventilation.
On the typewriter side, their frequency of use and the conditions in which they’re stored are going to vary widely from the person who has one on display for infrequent use to the collector who has hundreds which are also in infrequent use to typists who have one or more in regular use, but who also aren’t using them with the frequency of a transcriptionist from the 1950s who typed for eight hours a day.
For the uninitiated, Mineral spirits (US) or White spirit (UK), also known as mineral turpentine, turpentine substitute, petroleum spirits, solvent naphtha (petroleum), varsol, Stoddard solvent, or, generically, “paint thinner”, is a petroleum-derived clear, transparent liquid used as a common organic solvent especially in painting. Just the number of names and varieties of mineral spirit become off-putting to most typists. Which one is the “right” one? (In daily practice, really any of them for sale at the local hardware, paint, or art supply stores will work.) Add this to recommendations of other types of automotive degreasers (like carburetor cleaners, engine degreasers, etc.) which come under the brand names of a huge variety of companies all of which have different ingredients and you’re asking for a mess, particularly when these enter the colloquial advice space. And how many are regularly warning their users that some of these degreasers stink to high heaven in comparison to mineral spirits?
Naturally the underwhelming advice to try isopropyl or rubbing alcohol and Q-Tips seems lovely and expedient. No serious typewriter mechanic would recommend rubbing alcohol of any sort because it contains water and is more likely to cause subsequent rusting to typewriter internals. Even industrial grade isopropyl will have a water in it as well as keytones and acetones which, again, will tend to strip paint and melt plastic. It doesn’t help that isopropyl isn’t the greatest degreaser, though with some mechanical friction, it will certainly help clean up and wash some material out when it’s the only thing available. The better advice is to use one of the family of mineral spirits.
Some materials may be used more frequently by some typists solely because of their alternate uses in the home/garage and thus ease of accessibility. Susan, who likes working on her ’65 Corvette on weekends, may be more likely to have carburetor cleaner out in the garage, so naturally that’s what she’ll want to use to degrease the internals of her typewriter. Meanwhile, her husband Bob who loves his matte Batman-blue fingernail polish is more likely to use his nail-polish remover (aka Acetone) to clean off his type slugs on a weekly basis. Once they’ve appreciated having done this, they’re far more likely to recommend these methods to others. Perhaps if their 10 year old son Jimmy was consulted, he’d recommend the expedience of his Silly Putty for typeface cleaning because he knows it’s a reasonable facsimile of Eberhardt Faber’s Star type cleaner from the 1940s. (And it can be fun to play with when the muse isn’t visiting your typewriter desk.)
Now, the worst of the problem is that most of the sources of misinformation spread are typewriter fora on the internet. Every day someone shows up on one of the common typewriter spaces on Reddit or Facebook asking how to fix and or clean a typewriter. (No one thinks to search these spaces to see the answer from the day before.) The answer they get will naturally default to the lowest common denominator because professional typewriter repair people and mechanics are almost never the ones showing up to answer the question. They’re going to get the same regurgitated colloquial and anecdotal advice everyone else got or used. It will continue to spread on this way until someone aggregates actual advice from trained typewriter repair people. If only we had a solid wiki for documenting, footnoting, and referencing all this sort of advice? Fortunately most of the colloquial advice is close enough, easy enough, and works relatively well.
Even if typists were advised to use WD-40, things wouldn’t be horribly bad as long as they were daily typists who protected their machines against dirt and dust and had them serviced occasionally. WD-40 has been and can be used as a form of degreaser and lubricant for some applications and as long as it isn’t set to dry out and freeze up in combination with dust and dirt most typewriters might fair well enough with it. The bigger problem is when one uses it temporarily and then leaves their typewriter to sit for months or years at a time at which point the isoparaffin, dust, and dirt are going to have solidified and frozen the machine up again, potentially worse than before. I shudder to think of the number of perfectly good dirty typewriters people have thrown out over issues like this. (Hopefully only marginally more than those who disposed of machines because they accidentally had them on the stencil setting.)
Certainly typewriter shops love buying these “damaged” machines for pennies on the dollar, spending a few minutes dousing them with mineral spirits, blowing them out and marking them up hundreds of dollars. (At least this is better than the bottom feeders buying them from Goodwill and marking them up significantly without any repair work at all.)
Oiling Typewriters
When it comes to oiling advice all the same factors about knowledge and materials come into play. What should be oiled and what shouldn’t? What types of oil should I use? 3 in 1 oil, silicone sprays, mineral oils, gun oils (like Rem Oil), sewing machine oil, or other forms of light machine oil? Most people are sure to have one or more of these available at home already, but they’re also likely to have it in larger quantities either in liquid form or in spray can form which means they’re going to dramatically over-oil their machines.
Generally, over-oiling isn’t a problem when the machine is in regular daily use and some level of service is given to it every few years. It will get flushed out and re-applied frequently enough not to be an issue.
But are all modern typewriter users using their machines every day like they were in the past? When a machine sits on a shelf for too long, this oil is going to pick up particulate matter and tend to gum itself up again. As a result, collectors with large collections are probably well-advised to stay away from heavily oiling their machines in much the same way that they don’t want to leave ribbons on their unused machines as they’re prone to dry out over time or leave their paper release levers engaged which is prone to flattening out your platen and rubber paper rollers over time. (You’re guilt of these, I know you are. Go ahead and fix it now on those dozens of typewriters sitting idle in your collection.)
Here the best general advice is to provide very light machine oil in very small quantities and placed in targeted areas including the carriage rails, ball bearings, and, when necessary, on type bar linkages.
What you don’t want to end up with a decade hence is “Frozen Facit Syndrome”, a description common to old Facit typewriters which frequently have a frozen escapement mechanism because, as is sometimes colloquially stated, “someone at Facit thought it would be fun to use cod grease”.
Oiling the segment can be the most problematic as most typewriter segments were machined with incredibly close tolerances for movement against them. Any sort of oil (and especially WD-40) will tend to not only dry out over time, but because the segment is the most exposed internal part of the typewriter, it will gather more dust and dirt than other parts. The close tolerances then close up with gunk and the type bars have more friction eventually causing them to freeze up.
Where to from here?
Colloquial advice is sure to continue apace online. How, then to keep it reasonably solid?
Perhaps we might design a questionnaire to send to typewriter repair shops to see what the state of the art was? Then future hobbyists and typewriter repair schools will have better resources for teaching the cleaning and maintenance portions of their curricula.
Maybe someone will aggregate all the cleaning product recommendations and order them from least abrasive to most, from least toxic to most? This would allow the novice to start simple and increase the power as necessary or appropriate.
Maybe a more comprehensive wiki like The Typewriter Wiki will fill the space for long term advice with proper referencing and supporting materials?
Hausrath, Alfred H., and Eugene L. Dahl. Typewriter Care. Edited by Walter K.M. Slavik. Federal Work Improvement Program United States Civil Service Commission and Government Division, U.S. Treasury Department, 1945. http://archive.org/details/twcare-1945.
