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01-2-2022 00:31:51  #11


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

Go to the local bakery, buy a handful of tarts.  Throw them at your local typewriter repair shop.  Yell, "you've been tarted!"

Congratulations, you have successfully tarted a typewriter repair shop.


Typewriter Service Tech (and avid nerd)
 

01-2-2022 00:32:56  #12


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

I digress.

Tune into virtual hermans, registration opens on the second.  Megean Syata of the Unplug Typewriter Co. Is hosting a presentation on just that, how to start up a successful typewriter shop, business and all.


Typewriter Service Tech (and avid nerd)
 

01-2-2022 17:57:33  #13


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

Apprenticing is the way to go before working for hire.  The shop in Bremmerton, WA was taken over by a younger guy who switched to full time typewriter repair/restoration, but before he went solo he worked for years under the owner.  Lots to learn, mfg'rs have different ways to adjust the same cat that changes across years and sometimes years on the same models.  Then there's by the book and real world.  I called Ace once over the perplexing instruction on carriage removal on an Olympia SM portable.  His replay was: "Leave it to the German to make it difficult.  Here's what I do"  I followed his advice and all I could think was "brilliant".  I figure at least 4,000 hours manhours to get competent, and that's just a start.

 

01-2-2022 19:39:28  #14


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

Greetings All

Here in Canada, in order to become a journeyman mechanic, be that automotive or heavy duty (diesel), one has to do a 4 year apprenticeship. That usually takes the form of 10 months shop time and 2 months of technical college for each of the 4 years. Doing the math, that's over 6,500 hours in the shop and 1,120 hours in school, and you still can't call yourself a mechanic until you pass all the exams. Tom the Typewriterman might remember how many hours he had to put in both the shop and at tech school before he got his certification, but I can bet it was a several year course. All the best,

Sky


We humans go through many computers in our lives, but in their lives, typewriters go through many of us.
In that way, they’re like violins, like ancestral swords. So I use mine with honor and treat them with respect.
I try to leave them in better condition than I met them. I am not their first user, nor will I be their last.
Frederic S. Durbin. (Typewriter mania and the modern writer)
 

02-2-2022 05:30:24  #15


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

I started in the typewriter trade at 17, but by the time I was 21, I already had the equivalent of 8 years experience.  How ?  As a teenager, I was working for a local typewriter dealer (had a company car and an area to cover by 19), was doing Saturday morning overtime in the workshop there, preparing machines for sale, then travelling to the next town and doing the same for a rival firm all afternoon and into the evening - whilst at home I was repairing typewriters for yet another firm who used to collect and deliver machines to my house.  Rather an intensive apprenticeship, but I enjoyed every minute !

 

06-7-2022 05:02:36  #16


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

If you are considering opening a typewriter repair shop...perhaps consider combining it with a coffee shop. This would do two things -- you could do typewriter repair and sales and the coffee shop could help pay the rent. It would also help build a community of people that might take an interest in these wonderful machines.

 

06-7-2022 09:37:32  #17


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

The newer shop in Bremerton WA (Typewriter Fever) is set up as both a retail shop and a museum portion.  I assume the museum operates as a non-profit and might help with the building overhead costs.

And I vaguely recall when they first opened up, they may have had a small cafe spot in the building as well.

 

08-9-2022 12:12:19  #18


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

Lucas Dul wrote:

Go to the local bakery, buy a handful of tarts.  Throw them at your local typewriter repair shop.  Yell, "you've been tarted!"

Congratulations, you have successfully tarted a typewriter repair shop.

I just saw the typo in the topic 🤣. That’s why everyone is saying tart 🤣. Thank you all for the replies!

     Thread Starter
 

08-9-2022 13:17:01  #19


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

Matt, have you moved forward with this venture ?

 

08-9-2022 15:26:44  #20


Re: Tips on a tarting a typewriter repair shop

No I haven’t, life happened and If I ever start a typewriter repair shop it will be a bit into the future, but I do appreciate all of the advice! I really liked the idea of combining it with something else like a coffee shop.

     Thread Starter
 

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