Well I'm glad to see that another dweller of the eastern coast of the US has finally joined! And nearby too! It sounds like your prospects in NY have been better than my foraging in the forbidden land of New Jersey since by the sound of it, you already have yourself a nice little collection. But welcome anyways!

Hi all. I'm glad to find an actual typewriter forum!

There are a couple of things that got me into typewriters. Probably the first thing that got me interested was a movie. Personally, I wouldn't have watched this movie on my own (I don't really relate to the story although I suppose it was a good drama,) but one day I was watching "The Perks of being a Wallflower" with my wife in which a high school boy is gifted a 1920s Royal Portable with which to continue his journaling/diary and pursue his interest in becoming a writer. I just thought that part was brilliant and the old, burgundy typewriter was mesmerizing.

Also, as you can tell by my name I have always been a Tom Hanks fan, especially in Forrest Gump and Apollo 13. I don't remember how but one day, probably doing research on typewriters after the afore mentioned movie, I discovered that Tom Hanks is a typewriter enthusiast and collector who actually uses them often!

I found both of these events very interesting because I already enjoyed early 20th century technology. The 1940s is probably my favorite decade (I was born in 1989.)

Anyway, typewriters are just a hobby for me. I'm not really a collector (yet) or a restorer. So far I have enjoyed buying affordable typewriters that basically already work but have been in storage or whatever and I have fun cleaning them up and adding some new lubrication to get them working well again. It doesn't seem to be very different from cleaning a firearm or working on your car. I love typing on a typewriter and I plan to use it for many different things including journaling, letters, thank you notes, maybe trying my hand at short stories, etc.

I currently own two vintage typewriters. My first is a 1932 Imperial The Good Companion I purchased on eBay for about $50 USD in 2014. It was in good shape, all I had to do was clean it up and lubricate it. I chose this because it looked similar to the Royal Portable in the movie, although had I known what a Royal Portable was I would have looked for one of those.

My second typewriter is a 1948 Royal Quiet De Luxe I also purchased on eBay this year (actually a few days ago) for about $54 USD. I am in love with it and it is now my favorite typewriter. I'll elaborate more on both of my typewriters in the appropriate forum.

As you can tell I am most interested in portables and I really enjoy them. I like their size. If I start collecting more it will most likely be more portables. I am not really interested in the standard full size typewriters.

Some may disagree with buying on eBay but I feel comfortable as long as the description says it works, the pictures look good, and the seller has a lot of positive feedback. It has worked well so far as I don't know of any other avenue in my local area to buy vintage typewriters as of yet.

Sorry for the long post but I am enjoying this forum already!

Last edited by HanksFan (20-10-2015 10:12:00)

Typewriterlv wrote:

Welcome! That was a great intro. 

Thanks!
 

Hello, hello, hello, typewriter people! 

I'm very new to the world of typewriters right now, but I'm smitten. My hobby and first love is writing and there's something very visceral about actually producing a sheet of paper covered in ink. I've found way more rewarding than watching a character counter go up at the bottom of a screen. Add in the lack of harsh LEDs, the click of the keys, and the lack of a hand cramp, and it was easy to fall in love. Right now I only have two typewriters and they're basically the strays I brought home to test the waters. 

I have an electric Brother SX-4000 typewriter that I rescued from a local thrift store. As far as I've been able to tell, none of the Alt features on it work, and the mode it turns on it is pretty much the limit of what it can do, so no tab, no text editing, and no automatic line return. I'm still tickled with my find because for everything it doesn't do, it was eight bucks and I found it the same day that I decided I really wanted to try my hand at a typewriter. It puts ink on paper and we've already eaten through quite a few ribbons together.

I just got my first manual typewriter, a Remington Quiet-Riter, which I bought online (my thrift store hunting instincts shamefully failed me) with the tried and true method of switching the filter to 'Low -> High.' It has a lot of white-out on the keys and is in desperate need of a new ribbon (which I understand will be fun on a Remington), so definitely a machine that's seen battle. I'm sure you'll see me in the Repair forums as I try to fumble with the alignment. I already love the feel and the sound of typing on it, even if I can't make out a single thing I type yet. 

I'm so happy that there's a forum for typewriter lovers! It's very hard to explain to friends and loved ones why I'm so pleased to have these clunky, temperamental machines. 

Hi wurdsmith - ahh, the Quiet Riter is a wonderful machine! If it's in even halfway decent condition it\s a brilliant typer and really solid.