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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.
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Hello tojeem. 8 screwdrivers inside a typewriter? That's crazy. How did they all fit? Lol. Welcome to the board.
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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)
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Lol!
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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)
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Welcome, tojeem. I love the assortment of freebies your M44 came with! I think I would frame the eviction notice, in fact I'd have framed the lot! So bizarre!
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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...
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Thanks for the welcome everyone!
It's also nice to see I'm not the only Australian here, even if beak and I are a continent apart.
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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.
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Hello, I'm new to using typewriters. I do a lot of writing, but want to do more offline, I have written a large variety of things, but anyways I have a Brother GX-6750 I got new, and also I'm having an Olympia SM 9 refurbished and excited to use it. I'm certainly interested in finding another portable or two.