A new Olympia SM3 or Another Olympia SM3

The moss green SM3 in its as received uncleaned form

You can see above how the x,c,v keys sit lower than the others.

Mmmmm,  nothing like a segment to appeal to those of us who enjoy symmetry in mechanical devices

The original rubber spacers removed from the SM3

My Brother's Typing Assignment #5

I was happy when my brother called and asked what I was doing one day.  I just happened to be finishing up Typewriter Assignment #2 and was telling him how it worked.  He expressed an interest and I quickly seized upon it to try and convince him to get involved.

It just so happened that when we had last been together, I bought a trio of Olympia typewriters (a 4, 5 and 9) and could only take one home on the plane, the rest he was generous enough to drive home and we would connect later on to get them back.

Although he wanted to use the SM5 with its smooth white painted finish, the ribbon was dead and he didn't have any replacements.  The SM9, a more restrained (and less exciting) grey keyed unit was accessible and still had some ribbon life.  I encouraged him to use it and talked him through releasing the carriage lock over the phone.  He figured out the rest.

Now although he wasn't able to do #3 and #4, I was surprised last week when he sent me #5.  So I am happy posting this on his behalf.

Good work bro!  And I look forward to seeing more. 

Here is Pat (Patty) Bohanga's Typewriter Assignment #5, typed on an Olympia SM9.

 

Joe's Typewriter Assignment #5

Well its time to complete and submit Typewriter Assignment 5 for Joe Van Cleave's awesome typewriter program.  I unfortunately missed the last two, and while I still plan to complete and post them, its been a busy summer so far and I was unable to get time to bear down and focus on completing them within the timeline.

So far I have enjoyed the variety of assignments which we have been given, its a nice balance between fiction and non, allowing the ol' brain to flex a bit.  Writing is fine, I have always enjoyed it, but doing it on a typewriter adds a certain amount of joy again and adds a touch of artistry.

Anyhow, this weeks assignment was to write something with the oft-used (over-used?) 'It was a dark and stormy night', originally penned (unfortunately not on a typewriter) by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford. Over the last couple centuries, it has been parodied to the point where now you could never use it if you wanted any sort of seriousness given to your writings.

As with all of Joe's assignments, how to write on something with so much potential and possibility and do it on one page?  Aha! Such is the joy of planning and thought.  On a computer you can cheat by closing up your spacing, shrinking the font and generally using legitimate tools to maximize your content.  Not so on a typewriter!

Well thats not quite true.  No one ever said you had to use a standard 8 1/2 x 11 page.  With a typewriter, if you are lucky enough to have some to choose from, you can choose a typewriter with a smaller font, and utilize a larger paper format.  And voila! You have more room to stuff all of your wild ramblings.

I tried using my 1936 Corona Standard, which has the smallest type of any of my collection, and while it strikes the paper well, there is a problem with the escapement somewhere which I haven't had time to resolve prior to this assignment. 

The escapement doesn't always allow the little floating 'dog' out, holding it in place.  The resultant situation on the page is like a car crash, the letters all type into the same spot as if they hit an invisible wall on the page, and you end up with a black blob where an eloquent and flowery word should have gone.  Its too nice of a typewriter NOT to use, I have to get it fixed, but this problem outstrips my knowledge at this point.

So I went the other way and pulled out my 1959 Smith-Corona Galaxie II in Driftwood Grey.

It types with a chunky echo like you are typing inside a tank.  And its a tank too so....anyhow.  It works well though and gets the job done.

I decided to really go old-school and typed this assignment on some old Southwood 8 1/2x13 RACERASE onion skin, an excellent albeit light paper which the SCM couldn't properly advance through the roller, requiring me to tug at it each new line to make sure it lined up.

Anyhow, here is my Assignment which I will submit today. Because it was put on a cockle finish onion skin (maybe not the best option for typecasting) but I wanted to try it once.

 Any comments are welcome!

Joe's Typewriter Assignment #2

Well, as is my usual way, I posted my first assignment too late to make the cut.  If this was a marked paper, I would have again gotten a talking-to by the Prof.  As it is, there is no grading, no judgement, so we can just look ahead to the next sunrise and start again.

Joe issued Typewriter Assignment #2 today, and you can read about it on his latest blog post. 

The sheer variety of possibilities that one can write about in response to Joe's assignment is what excites me about the typewriter.  Writing is fun, but writing on a TYPEWRITER!  Whoo-eee, that changes things completely! To many, writing is writing is writing.  But the sheer creative excitement I feel when a new thought, story or picture pops into my mind is amplified by the sensory and tactile pleasure at being able to execute it with ink ribbon, type-bar and paper.  You SEE it when it hits the paper, and you have made a commitment, something that we as a society sometimes seem to have a problem with.  

Alas.....

This assignment was planned and executed on a 1959 Olympia SM4, a nice clean unit I recently bought from Don Nathan, the guitar/typewriter chap out on the West coast whom I met during a recent trip to visit family.  I ended up buying three Olympia's from him, this SM4 with beautiful rust/brown crinkle paint, a smooth white SM5 and a dull but solid 1969 grey keyed SM9.  Thanks Don! (You can find the link to his eclectic blog on the right)

Anyhow, here is the SM4

And here is my assignment for submission.  This time, its in EARLY!

Here for the original

 

Joe's Typewriter Assignment #1

One of the YouTube channels I follow is Joe Van Cleave.  Joe posts a number of great videos on two of my favorite things, typewriters and office supplies (I know, its weird to some folks).  Anyhow, Joe had a great idea a few weeks ago in which he is going to be posting assignments for people to use their typewriters and upload their typed work (the 'typecast') back to the net.

Joe's blog can be found HERE

I think this is a wonderful idea to create collaboration and involve more people and their typewriters in the digital medium we call the 'net.

I wrote this piece on my Olivetti Lettera DL, a rebel-without-a-cause looking biker typewriter that works very well and had a new ribbon.

So here I include my first typewriter assignment, #1.  The work this week was to give life to the typewriter and how it found me.  I was general in my approach and soon found that putting my thoughts on paper was going to turn into a short story vs the 1-page only that the rules called for.  When I get going on a typewriter, its hard to keep it in a box.

You can refer to Joe's post on the assignment for the rules/guidelines.

The Nostalgist - Winchester 1894

“We are homesick most for the places we have never known.”
― Carson McCullers

I'm the nostalgic type.  I think I always have been, it was just hidden a bit when I was younger.  It really emerged in the late 90's though when I started collecting.....stuff.  Like with any habit, or leaning, collection or hobby, it can be messy, broad, varied and somewhat patchy.  At least from the outside, or looking back.

I always loved history more than math, English and social studies more than science.  It really defined me from a very young age that I could appreciate and regurgitate historic events of interest and note back to Roman days.  Adults referred to me as an 'old soul'.  I guess hearing a 10 year old talk about the goings-on during the 'Belle Epoque' was probably more than a little unnerving, that being called an 'old soul' was the only response.

Now although I had always appreciated the 'old days' (we'll just refer to to old days as anything prior to when we were around, or we were kids and don't remember much), the thing that really kicked it off was an old Winchester Model 1894 SRC (saddle ring carbine) that I bought from a gun shop around when I was 23.  I got it for cheap, it had been used hard, as was evidenced by a wood stock that was cracked, dented, dinged and shrunken.  The fore-stock was likewise cracked and looked like a grisly piece of dried flotsam.  The finish was all gone and the magazine tube has a noticeable dent in it.  It was made in 1912 and was what you would call a beater.

At that time of the world, the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. was still making the 1894 (by this time more modernly being referred to as 'the 94') in New Haven, Connecticut. They had made over 6 million of just this model!  So they were neither collectible nor much money.  Perfect for the young worker making little money and with barely any extra to spend.

I took that rifle and replaced the dented magazine tube with an orphan from a friends parts bin, bought new wood and then sanded and fit and finished it by hand.  The whole time I was doing this I wondered, where had it been?, what had it done?  I thought about all of the events of the world.  It was around when WWI started, the fall of the European monarchies, the rise of the west, the atom bomb, Korea, colour movies, the moon landings, the cold war!  My god how this thing had traveled!  And I could still take it out to the range and shoot it as well as it probably did 90 years ago.

Needless to say that triggered two further problems that is common among those of us who like the old stuff.  The first was the growing belief that nothing made today could match up to the longevity of these old products.  The second was a desire to have more of them.

Now there is probably some merit to this (although there will likewise be many in disagreement).  Look around you today and try to name something you have that will still be around in 100 years.  Something that could still fulfill its original purpose.  I try to all the time, but all I generally see are disposable things.  This belief is further reinforced by the amazement I have for things that weren't built with computers or CNC machining, but people with tools and gauges.

To the second point, I was introduced through my fascination with the 'gun of the old west' to many other people who shared that appreciation, through the internet forums and websites.  Once you're in similar company.....well that just helps to feed the addiction, knowledge and desire to seek out new acquisitions.

From here this collection further fed an expansion, into typewriters, watches (both pocket and vintage wrist), Coleman lanterns, clothes irons, vacuum tube radios, rotary telephones, fans and the pinnacle of them all, the antique or classic car.  Is it a disease?  Who knows, who cares, you can always find a Doctor to diagnose one way or the other.  Live life and have fun doing it.

So I am a Nostalgist, unabashed and proud.

But it just started here, grew from here and boy its not over........