We have noticed that many of the "period piece" programs we watch like to have typewriters to help with setting the era. My wife likes to ask me what model it is and most of the time I can only say it's the back side of a manual typewriter.

I remember when we only had two TV stations that we could get well with an antenna. In the late 50s and early 60s when I'd get home from school they would show a matinee movie, many from the 30s, 40s and 50s like His girl Friday. Ms. Russell looks over dressed to be sitting at the typewriter and writing.

We didn't get a color TV until the late 70s or early 80s so unless going to the movies everything we saw was in black and white. I definitely don't miss adjusting the horizontal and vertical holds along with degraded reception.

George

robmck wrote:

George: I've never heard of Bungubox. Now I've got another fountain pen ink rabbit hole to go tumbling down. (The last was Wearingeul). Thanks! Good thing I just built a bigger ink sample case...

Rob, the overwhelming amounts of fountain pen inks is crazy and can be a very deep rabbit hole to get lost in. When I was still writing everything by hand I tried to find the perfect inks. Luckily I had a friend using bottled inks in art projects and gave away a lot. Once arthritis made long writing sessions unbearable I could finally find a few inks (less than a dozen) and now keep only four pens inked on my desk. Bungubox is very expensive here in the States so my friend and I made a direct purchase from Japan and the savings more than made it worthwhile. Another set of inks I like a lot is Kobe.

Enjoy the journey, George

Hello Ruz, 

Finding interesting paper to write and type on is an aspect of the hobby I really like. Looking on my papers shelf I have at least 30+ different varieties with various manufacturers labels on them. The fountain pen community has a paper characteristic they call “fountain pen friendly.”

A number of the Japanese mills make some interesting papers. Some of the mills here in the USA like to call the nicer papers “fine.” I like to use paper that is at least 25 percent cotton. I have also found if the paper is too heavy or thick it doesn’t always feed well in my typewriters. In all my older machines I use some kind of a backing sheet for typing. This is particularly necessary for thin, onionskin papers. I have also used handmade paper to type on. I think if it feeds well it’s worth trying to type on it. I also use an IBM Wheelwriter 10 that uses a correctable typewriter ribbon. The correction involves a separate lift-off ribbon. On most smooth papers it will completely remove the ink but on paper with more texture it leaves a little ghosting and won’t fully erase. 

One of my typewriter pals does as @skywatcher suggests and frequents thrift, charity and antique shop looking for “boxed” stationery sets. 

The only time I load plain printer/copier paper is when I get a grandkid with an interest to try typing.

Did I mention I love paper?

George

Nice Pete! It looks like it just came out of the factory.

George

Hi Pete, The color scheme isn’t one I’d buy but it is definitely hard not to keep looking at it.