So I could sand down my feed roller first to make it round and then make the width back up with shrink tubing. That's a pretty decent idea. I will search for it. 
Thanks!

I never though of getting some plain ribbon and trying inking it from scratch. I wonder what would be a similar consistency? I suspect a nylon ribbon like you woul find in a craft store would be too thin or dense. I'll have to check more into this. In the mean time, I think I will give my local stationary store a call. 

You wouldn't happen to know if a metal stamp ink is oil based would you?

Thanks!

Thanks for the reply. I figured that would probably be my option. Would you happen to know anywhere that re-rubbers typewriter parts? 

Also, had you heard about the possibility of re-conditioning the rubber with some sort of solvent? 

Bryan

Hey Everyone, 
I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or tips on resurfacing the rubber (platten and roller) in my "new" typewriter? It's first model Empire from like 1900, and the platten is rather hard. Additionally, the under roller has a very distinct flat spot where it has been sitting on the platten for like 100 years. 

My thought was to just use a fine sand paper on the platten since it's still round to see if I can get it a little better, but I had read online about the possibility of using a rubber conditioner fluid to soften it up. 
For the roller underneath, I was going to be a little more brutal and take a coarse sandpaper to it to wear down the rest of the rubber to match the thickness of the flat spot. 

Any and all suggestions are more than welcome, as I would rather not ruin the rubber on it. Might be hard to find a replacement. :-)

Thanks!

Bryan

Yeah, I ended up getting a universal replacement after, but unfortunately, one of the sides the spools sit on has a missing turning peg (the metal piece that physically turns the spool) so I have to just use one direction and then manually rewind. Not a big deal. :-)