I was into photography when I was in high school and college. I didn't have a lot of money into it, thankfully, when I went into the Air Force and found out they frowned upon people taking a lot of pictures on Air Force bases. So I kind of fell out of the hobby. I've still got a film SLR and a Nikon autofocus 35mm, but I haven't used them in 20 years. And then there's my former ham radio hobby. Did you know that you almost, literally, can't give away old ham radio gear? You have to truck it around to swap meets and pay for a table and then beg people to take it away. Ham radio is a hobby of old people now and they (we) are dying out. So there are literally free ham radio station set-ups that are available to any young guy for the asking.  I'm pretty happy with my small typewriter collection, though. These machines don't break nearly as often as the ham radio gear did and I'm typing in my (worthless) journal every day. 

For lubricating typewriters, and other pieces of fine machinery, you should use gun oil or sewing machine oil. Those are silicone based oils and will evaporate cleanly. All petroleum based oils (3-n-1 oil, etc) will evaporate down to leave gum behind eventually. (PS - WD-40 isn*t even a lubricant,)
 

I would start with a drop of hand dishwashing liquid in a half a cup or so of warm water and a toothbrush. Clean a few square inches at a time and wipe it off to see how it looks. After you get the whole machine clean you can use car wax on the black lacquer, going carefully around the decals and just lightly trying a little wax on a test decal on the back to see if it'll take the abrasive in the car wax without shredding.

One thing I have found interesting about the Olympia keyboards is that they are slightly narrower than the American brand keyboards I have measured. My Oly SM4 and SM7 keyboards both measure 6 - 1/2 inches from the Q to the P key (measured from the left edge of each). Whereas, all of my American's measure 7 inches from Q to P. The Hermes measures not quite 6 - 3/4. It makes it a little bit of an adjustment when switching from one to the other.
    Regarding the key shape and surface I can use either, though the sculpted plastic keys cradle my finger tips better and so are better for fast typing. The only general keyboard I have a problem with is the old Remington keyboard where the round keys are very small and seem more widely spaced apart, though they measure the same. My pinkie finger just seems to fall into the abyss between keys a lot more often with those Remingtons.

Nice essay! Thanks for that info skywatcher!