Hi all, my name is Simon, from Queensland, Australia.

I became interested in typewriters when I bought Marcin Wichary's magnificent "Shift Happens" set. I bought it for the computer keyboards, but unfortunately fell for the typewriters. I just love the engineering behind them.

So now I have a few (only 5 or 6 - I'm not a collector, so I tell my wife). She bought the first on a whim (a Brother 760TR), and I've since got a Lettera 32, SM2, Adler Tippa, Adler Tippa S (in bright yellow - given to my kids' school, when the school kids showed an interest), a gorgeous S & N Erika S, bought off the child of the original owner from 1941 who emigrated to Australia from Holland after the war and finally a troubled Studio 44 (I might ask some questions about that one).

From a typing perspective, the Lettera 32 is my favourite - such a crisp typer, but I'm not a fan of the Pica italic typeface (been on the lookout for one with Elite). The Erika is my sentimental favourite - it needed a thorough clean, as it hadn't been serviced in probably 60 years, and had been packed away for 40, but it now types beautifully.

Thanks robmck. Shift Happens is such a lovingly crafted set of books. You can see how much time and effort went into them, and how much he cared.

But I blame that set of books for the typewriters crowding my desk, the bits of disassembled Studio 44 lying around, and my wife's resulting indulgent exasperation, so they aren't perfect.

Hello everyone,
 I live in the U. S., on the California North Coast where Pacific Redwoods grow. I turn 78 in about two and a half weeks, and my wife is getting me a Smith-Corona Silent-Super for my birthday. Right now I'm limping along with a Royal Citadel thrift store find that kinda sorta works. I partially disassembled it, blew out dead spiders and unidentified detritus with canned air, and did my best to degunk it with mineral spirits. The hardest part was putting it back together. My first typewriter was an Olivetti-Underwood 22. I got it when I went away to college in 1964. I've had a couple others over the years, then got seduced by an early Brother Word Processor, and from there went whole hog digital. I'm finally returning to my roots. I like old writing technologies. I accumulate (it's kind of like collecting, but without a unifying principle) fountain pens, and also use dip pens and cut my own quills. I belong to a fountain pen forum, and it's been a good experience, so I thought I'd see about giving Typewriter-Talk a go.  I'm a writer and retired magazine editor. I have a couple of novels and some short stories I'm trying to sell. I found an agent who I think might be a good fit, and sent him a proposal just yesterday. He accepts hard copy submissions, so I printed out the rest of it (including synopsis and first few chapters), but I typed the cover letter on the Royal. The blankety blank thing is so balky that I had to retype the letter about seven or eight times before I could come up with a "fair copy," as they used to say about final handwritten copies in the 18th century. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the Silent-Super.

Thank for the welcome!
Ah yes. A good friend used to live in Ben Lomond. I'm about 300 miles north of there, in northern Humboldt County.
Your Lettera 21 is beautiful, and similar to my old 22. I already saw one on eBay, and thought about getting it, but I picked up the Silent-Super for a great price, and I just want a functioning machine to use. Can't afford to succumb to the typewriter collecting bug -- no room, if nothing else. I've already have spent stupid amounts of money on fountain pens and cameras, and have a drawer full of pocket knives that just seem to have accumulated by themselves. I don't need another addiction! But I do understand the draw.

fountainpensplus wrote:

Many years ago my two sons asked me how many Benchmade knives I needed. I told them, "I didn't know yet."

I love this response (and understand it all too well).