I bought some typewriter ribbons from AliExpress...

So... I bought 4 blue ribbons and some black/red... I tested only blue so far, but my concerns about B/R are a fact.
To be honest I searched for the cheapest... But also all of them look alike on the pictures so I don't think there is many different products out there.

 Probably there were some warings on the net/typoshpere already - but I didn't look any advice on that purchase. My bad. 

Pre-war twins...

Hermes Baby from 1938 and FK Mała - Baby made under license in pre-war Polish arms factory "Fabryka Karabinów" in Warsaw. 

There was only 1000 FK made before war break out.

Baby have unique Polish-german set of specjal keys and probably was used during the war in some way... IT has value of many lifes and could be used to make all kind of papers. 

TT: Lambda Ribbon after 3 years on the spools :)

OK, to be clear... It probably didn't go even full "round" on the spools during this time. I typed on this SM3 around two-three dozen pages only.
It was on display in my living room with out any cover in shady corner.
The fade effect is probably only caused by age and slowly drying of the ink.
 

Blind Prophets

 

Hermes Baby & leather case.

I've had an interesting find. On one local ad I discovered a Hermes Baby along with the leather case designed for it :) 

It looks interesting and more handy than standard metal cover.
Anyone heve one like these in the collection? :)
Anyone interesting in purchasing such lovely case?

TT: Typecleaner

 Typewriter Test: Type cleaner!

I've recently acquired a new gizmo to my typewriter Den. It's called typecleaner and it cleans the typeface/hammers from "ink".

This is some kind of modeline clay at least at the look and feel. The difference lay in the material: this one is sticky and firmly stays in shape.

 

 

Working with it is very simple, you simply press it firmly to the hammers/typeface many times over :) It might sound bad, but actually is quite fast. The clay stics to at least few hammers at the same time and "consumes" the ink wastes. Afer dozen seconds it looks like that:

 

 

 And here are the effects on a nearly mint typewriter that I used the very day (typeface was clean before the use):

 

Before

After

As You can see the effect is quite positive :) It's clean work, without use of any chem or brush, only our hands and magic clay ;) 

After the first test I used it on my Olympia SM3, that is used more frequently and wasn't cleaned for some time. The typeface was not only more dirty but also the ink had time to dry on the hammers.
So this is how it worked:

Before without flash.

Before, photo with flash.

After, photo with flash.

Typecleaner after the tests.

As you can see the effects wasn't so spectacular as with the clean typewriter, but the clay took a load of ink anyway. The small spaces in the narrows of typeface wasn't cleaned properly, but It's hard to blame the gizmo. It would be a good start for more detailed cleaning with brush ang chems :)

I think that for collectors, that use many machines ocassionaly it's a great idea. You can keep them clean without much effort. Also for somebody, who simply needs to have things tidy!

The Den - my den :)

 

In one of my favourite games of all time: classic Fallout 1 was location named The Den.
From few weeks I have my own space, just for typewriters and writing - and because it's placed half-underground in the basement level of my block... I named it like that ;) 

I also acquired Olympia SG-1... It's in worked-up state, but functional and probably the smoothest typewriter that I typed on. I have to admit, that there is something better than Olympia SM3 or Hermes 3000... If it only wasn't so big! At other hand - finally a typer that doesn't move while typing!

Right now I'm working on big project, so my maine forces are focused on writing. Hopefully I'll be able to put something here from time to time - I really like this blog. Maybe a writer workshop tips for anyone interested? ;) 

First tip: get big typewriter - they do the job.

P.s.: In my story published in Cold Hard Type project Vol.1 "Paradigm Shifts" the main scene was placed in the very basements that now I'm working in ;) 

P.s.2: I still have this SG-3 in the line... and Hermes 3000 PL with missing parts to finish... So many typewriters, so many pages to fill. The "Curse" of Abundance...

Hermes Media 3

Hello there!

This is video of testing my latest offer on Etsy store: a beautiful Hermes Media 3 :)

I'll try to do the same show for every typewriter for sale from now.
I belive buying a dozens-old piece of machinery from the other side of the globe should be as trustworthy as possible :) At least in my little store ;) 

4 horseman of apocalypse :D

The Idea...

The flow!

Blunder

and the writer's block

.

I'm back.

My Etsy store will probably be reopened from June.
Restrictions on international shipments are being phased out :)

For safety reasons, the machines will be sanitized with an ozonator before shipment.
They are also always cleaned with a preparation with a high alcohol content.

See you soon!

DINOPlaten

I wasn't very active in April because I was secretly working on a new service for my store. For some time I was looking for a producer who would undertake regeneration of platen in Poland. Sending it abroad, especially overseas, would mean weeks of waiting and double the costs.



From a dozen or so queries sent, only two bidders responded altogether.

And with one I decided to try.

Olympia SM3 was chosen as the prototype, and more specifically the one I bought for parts. So I had no fear that the item would be damaged or lost.



After dismantling the element and getting rid of the rubber layer (which turned out to be quite simple), I sent the whole thing to the company

Japanese weirdos.

I'm not sure when and why Japan manufacturers begin to brand their typewriters with european names. Apart from Hermes I've also came across Olympia, Brillant Neckermann (one at my shop for example), and at least few others.

It had to be around 80's, since all of the factories made their own typewriters since 70's with more or less success.
I'm not sure if this was even legal, but after the personal computers hit the market I can imagine that most manufacturers could sold the name at least in the terms of typewriters.
And japanese could sold their products not only back to europe (I found few machines in v.good condition... as unused), but mostly to poorer parts of the world.

They are far better than many clones or licensed products made in europe for example, whitch were also part of selling off what they could (classic manufacturers), before it will be worth nothing...
Mechanics is working v.good, the aligment is straight, and typing isn't a problem... I can't say that about UNIS or TBM products that I came across (Olympia, Olivetii licensed models, made in Jugoslavia).

If you want something fresh and reliable I think these japanese models are still better option that new "made in china" typewriters.

Sculpture

Some time ago (fall of 2018), small bronze sculptures depicting the symbols of Radom (one of Polish bigger cities), incl. the legendary "Łucznik" sewing machine and typewriter, a telephone from Radom Telephone Factory, a Vis pistol and shoes from "Radoskór" appeared in the city center. The project is implemented as part of the civic budget.

The objects are made in 1:1 scale, and are placed around city center for turists to discover :)

It looks that typewriter had at least one monument around the globe!
Or there are more?

Inspiration Cube

Over 1000.

In isolation...

Next days...

This time not typewritten, since I'm after 12 hr shift, there is late and my kids have hard time to go sleep.

I'm a driver and thanks to that I can look further than most folks around :)

Today I drove through few cities, and one with big number of sick people (~20)

In all those cities you can see that people are behave according to the rules. There is a lot calmer on the streets, there is no groups wandering.

Sometimes I've seen queues with people standing in separation outside the shops. My wife stood today in 4 queues like that... half hour outside pharmacy (cheapest around), 15 mins outside post office, few minutes outside bakery and another almost half hour outside Kaufland supermarket (the security guy counted people entering the shop!) There usually is a limit of people that could enter the shop at one time, the pharmacy that I visited had 3 people allowed inside, big market 50 (maximum allowed by government at one place)

At my gas station there is small counter OUTSIDE the main doors with pay terminal, pen and through small opening in doors seller provides other goods (It's v.small station). I've seen this patent in some other locations.

Lot of service providers are simply closed, especially those small.

You can order some food by takeaway or home delivery - but restaurants and fast-foods are closed for guests.

After the first days of panic, there is full stock on the shelves :)

There is a lot of mess around borders. The queues at Germany-Pol border are up to 40 km, and people wanting to enter the country often wait for around 19 hrs. There is a problem with water/food and fuel there since all roads are closed around that queue. And at the border every go trough control post.
People from nearby towns and truck drivers (they usually have food and water for few days with them) are providing help for all stuck in that jam. Authorities are not yet up for the task...


WOT is mobilized (Polish National Guard - Territorial Forces) to help guarding the borders, to help with logistic at hospitals, also to provide help for veterans.
Probably there will be more work for them soon...

People are doing lot of good to help med staff - restaurants are providing free meals, or people are organizing food for them and/or their families.

At the places that are open all staff are trying to work in safe environment. Mostly it's gloves, sometimes a barriers from glass/plexi at the height of face build around counters, masks etc.

People behave calm, are understanding the need to all this precautions.


There is sometimes uneasy looks when somebody coughs, or looks sick. But there still is a season of flu and other winter sickness here.

The Hit

Maintentance Tip: Ozone Generator

I recently acquired an ozone generator in order to do occasional cleaning of air-conditioning in my car and remove mites/mold from piece of clothes/plush toys/pillows etc.
I also thought about cleaning the typewriters with it :)

It can help kill smells and all bacteria on the device.

The one precaution that I did was to remove rubber parts - I read that ozon can harm the rubber. Maybe in 60-70 year old platen it won’t do any harm - It’s usually rock-hard already, but who know.... ;)






I putted the machine in the vacuum bag, so the ozone (that is also dangerous to the lungs!) won’t harm anybody and also for the better quality of process (the quantity of ozone particles are essential to the process)

 

One have to avoid the sunlight as well, because in some cases ozone and UV light can change the colour of plastic for example :)

Typosphere in the time of COVID-19