Hello fellow typists! My name's Stephen. I'm studying a Creative Writing degree in Perth, Australia, and I use typewriters to write my assignments for university as I find they're conducive to creativity.

It can be hard to acquire typewriters here because we're so isolated and shipping costs are often more expensive than the machines themselves. Nevertheless I own three typewriters and sadly lost another, a beautiful Corona Portable 4, to my struggling finances.

The typewriters I currently own are:
1. An Adler Tippa S that I inherited from my late grandfather last year.
2. An Oliver No. 9 which I bought rusted frozen and non-functional from a classified ad, and then restored to working condition.
3. An Olivetti M44 which I recently bought for $7 in a dysmal state. I cleaned it, removed eight (!) screwdrivers from inside, fashioned replacement parts from metal hooks, wire, a shoelace, and anything I could get my hands on, and I finally got it working again. It needs some more cleaning and lubricating before I can call it "usable", but we're getting there.

I'm only twenty years old so I have a lot to learn, but I'm keen to discover more about typewriter repair, and restore some dignity to these old machines. I thought joining Type Talk would be a good start, so I hope you can all welcome me to the forum and hopefully I will be able to reciprocate the enjoyment and knowledge I get from it.

Thanks for the welcome, Spazmelda. I'm still asking myself that same question. They were small screwdrivers, I admit, but inside there was also a cable tie, a packet of staples, a ball of dog hair, a metal file, and – my favourite of all – a torn-up eviction notice.

I can only assume its previous owner felt it was better suited as a rubbish bin than a typewriter. Poor thing.

EDIT: I'm not even joking. This was some of the stuff that came out of it.

Last edited by tojeem (09-7-2015 09:10:59)

Welcome - another Australain!
Congrats on restoring the Oliver 9 - great looking old machines.  I think Geoffrey Rush was using one in 'The King's Speech'.  Photos would be good.
I've resigned myself to having the machines I want sent from abroad (argh - the postage) and have had success with that generally, though have a read of "another machine destroyed in the post' thread.

I think, being in the Goldcoast hinterland,  I'm about as far away from you in Perth as is possible in OZ....

Yes, those that didn't realize - Oz is very big.
Welcome, and see you around the forums.
 

Last edited by beak (09-7-2015 10:02:46)

Hi tojeem, welcome to the gang! That's some pile of stuff! you've got there - amazing. 

I've never found so much inside a typewriter - but I did once find a Westlife CD under one... 

tojeem wrote:

It's also nice to see I'm not the only Australian here, even if beak and I are a continent apart.

There are actually many more of your countrymen here, but beak is probably the most active.