Falling in love again
What am I to do?
Never wanted to
Can’t help it.
Now imagine Marlene Dietrich.. or was her name Gabriele?
i am gabriele
Is this love?
Or just infatuation?
multilingual
she lived in Switzerland…
Category Archives: Typewriters
50% Off Day
1939 Underwood Universal
I have too many typewriters, but I still enjoy hunting for good ones in thrift shops. Last week I dropped into the local SA where they have been putting every interesting donation up for auction for the past several years. This has aroused my ire and whenever I return there I’m usually in a sour mood just from the mere thought of this outrageous money grab. After all, I always thought thrift shops were originally conceived as places for folks of limited budgets to acquire goods they need at less than retail prices. Am I wrong? However, on this occasion they have made me glad because they not only didn’t put this lovely machine up for auction, but it and all else in the store, was half price on that day. I grabbed it in glee, and while there picked up several other goodies at half price. I should say that the prices today are twice or more what they once were, so this merely made my purchases seem like the old prices, but still I was very pleased.
side view – Underwood Universal 1939
When I got it home and out on the table I tried it out and it worked fine. It has elite type, which is OK, but I suppose it would be too much to hope for something rare? Anyways, after the test I discovered that the rubber feet were falling apart and the table had been scratched by one of the rear feet. I fixed the table with a little more spray varnish, but how to fix the feet?
old rotted rubber feet and new raw material
While browsing the dollar store I saw a package of 3 large size white rubber erasers – bingo! One dollar and a half poorer I arrive home with the goods, which were put aside until today. The basic repair is this: you carve, drill, cut the white rubber to match the shape of the rotten old piece, if you have that. Attach, adjust, etc. Type away. By the way, I discovered that you can super glue this white rubber to itself. Imagine the endless possibilities of white rubber eraser constructions!
Three new feet
One of the 4 old feet was in perfect shape, oddly enough, as if it was new old stock. The other three looked like they’d been barbecued.
close up of new foot
The keys on this one are interesting, they look like they are glass covered but are in fact plastic engraved inserts within the old style metal rings.
lovely keys these are
Filed under Typewriters
Plein Air Countdown T-10
Fountain Lake – Beacon Hill Park – Victoria
Yesterday’s outing produce this sketch of Fountain Lake in Beacon Hill Park. The lake was built in 1888 before the park was designed by Scottish landscape architect Blair. I find the abundance of green tones a huge challenge, obviously!
I was also prompted to pull out my Brother 750TR after reading about poet Les Murray and his very similar machine on oz.typewriter. But oz also had a post about typewriters used in the Fuhrer bunker, notably Adlers. I pulled out the Brother and gave it a short workout on the bench to see if there was ink left in the ribbon. Good enough. I carried it up stairs. Then I went to the living room and saw my Adler Tippa behind the couch. Which one to use? I set up the Adler on the table, fed in a piece of 9×12 sketch paper, the closest thing at hand, and just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. Maybe the Brother tomorrow.
Filed under Painting, Poetry, Typewriters, Uncategorized
Beltane in Djanuary
Django – born January 23 1910
Beltane -the watch for Wiccans
30 atm = 1000 metres! NOT
Victor – the stapler!
slam here to staple
Filed under Photography, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters, Uncategorized, Watches
Guitar#29/9
Every guitar project eventually hits a snag. Yesterday I hit one, big time. While I was attempting to put back bow on the neck I exerted too much torque and snapped off the threaded end of the truss rod. I was following instructions but somehow the neck was either too stiff to bend, or there was something else wrong. In any case I won’t be doing that again. This truss rod comes with instructions to glue it into the channel with epoxy. In my view all this did was prevent the thing from bowing. Other suppliers indicate that some builders do not glue this rod in. I may go that direction next. My supplier is sending a new rod, but the neck and all the work that has gone into it is now wasted.
This is most annoying because I had the neck joint fitted perfectly. This involved lots of chiseling, filing and sanding, and a multitude of checking for proper angles both vertically and horizontally.
neck showing truss rod barrel nut
In the meantime I have begun a new neck by cutting up another mahogany 1×4 board, band sawing and gluing up three more pieces.
Neck with broken barrel nut, and new neck blank in background
My first reaction was to glue on the fingerboard and try it with the truss rod as is, whereby it would be at least a passive reinforcement. But then this morning I reconsidered. So I removed the fingerboard with the aid of a heat lamp and some steel scrapers.
removing the fingerboard
I still don’t have the answer as to why this thing didn’t bend in the first place. Plus I am not confident that this particular truss rod is the best quality. I may go to a different source for a better one, i.e. one made in Japan. My supplier does not say who makes their truss rods. Form your own conclusions.
But other work is progressing. Today I bent the bindings on the hot pipe. There are four pieces, made of rosewood with white/black/white pinstripe laminations on the bottom edge. I then taped them to the binding channel that was previously cut, and let them dry in place.
hot pipe ready to bend binding
Later I applied glue and taped them on. I use lots of tape to ensure that the binding is pressed tight into the channel. One particular place that is often problematic is at the waist of the back, because here the binding channel takes a bend downwards. The twist induced causes the binding to want to pull away from the guitar. So I added a heavy duty clamp to force it into place. Once one side of the back is dry I will do the other side.
installing bindings
bindings drying in place before gluing – (note Hermes 3000 typewriter in background – received as Christmas present)
A final note, but not about guitars. Above you see a Hermes 3000 typewriter. This was given to me by my brother & sister in law for Christmas. It belonged to the late father of my brother in law. I have to extol this machine as probably the finest typewriter ever made. I’m not saying that it’s everyone’s favorite, but I guarantee that if you have a look inside at the works you will see a true wonder of the finest precision Swiss engineering and manufacturing. I’m keeping it close at hand as inspiration while I build this guitar. It is a reminder of the meaning of quality.
Filed under Guitars, Typewriters
Look Up, it’s Skywriter!
Sears Chieftain – Smith Corona Skywriter
Royal Futura with new paint job
Does Sears still fix 50 year old typewriters?
Filed under NaNoWriMo, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters
On the Road
Harris Beach, Oregon coast
Summer behind us here, with two weeks vacation to spend we set off on Highway 101, down the Pacific Coast, bound for California. Like all trips, this one was a perfect opportunity to do some sketching and scour the thrift and antique shops for cool stuff (typewriters and old cameras). 101 is a marvelous road, full of stupefying vistas, interesting towns and endless campgrounds.
After 2 weeks of browsing, it was on the last day of the trip that I discovered two typewriters that I could afford. The poem was typed on the one in the picture. The typewriter came with the previous owner’s name on it. A Google search revealed that she died over 10 years ago, but her husband only died last year. So I surmise that the typewriter was disposed of by estate sale, hence ending up in an antique mall.
My first trip down 101 was about 25 years ago, and I thought it wasn’t very interesting. At the time I was fresh from the east coast and had been hoping to see a lot of quaint east coast villages. Now, many trips along the route behind me, I see it differently – an amazingly interesting and varied route. I can hardly imagine that there is another single highway of its length that offers so many beautiful landscapes and scenes as this one does. However, I have heard tell that US Highway 20, which happens to start at the intersection with 101 in Newport, Oregon, is a likely competitor. One day…
Manzanita trees, Napa
Skytram at Sterling Wines
Typewriter from Astoria, Oregon
Filed under Painting, Poetry, Thrift shop finds, Travel, Typewriters, Uncategorized, VW Vans
The End of Summer
Things end, like summer, and jobs. Summer’s not quite over, but it soon will be. The job, it’s over, for now they say…
Soon ducks will be heading off, but not this duck: I found it today in a thrift shop for $2. It’s nothing special but I’m always looking for one, it’s an item I collect for some reason unknown. No typewriters of late – except common ones like Smith Corona Classic 12’s.
This summer saw us back in the Canadian Rockies, a place dear to my heart. Once again we went to look at Lake Louise. Of course it never changes, or rather it changes at a glacial pace. This time I took a picture, but also took the time to do a small watercolour sketch. Note how realistic it is! Quiz: which is the sketch, and which one is the photograph?
If you ever have a chance to see this place, be sure to go for tea at one of the two teahouses that can be reached by hiking for several hours. Tea never tasted better.
Filed under Great Hikes, Painting, Photography, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters
From Russia, With Luck
No kidding, this is a mint condition Olympia Progress, Russian. Unfortunately I don’t type Russian, nor do I speak it, or understand it. But I will sell it to the Russians for a tidy sum, since they are now wisely going back to typing classified documents. That is about the only good thing that can be said about Russia these days. Who would have thought that Russia is part of the typewriter insurgency!
Photograph of Chief Russian Insurgent, purportedly typing a secret report. Picture taken with one of those “film” cameras and developed in coffee….
Hey Vlad, want to buy my typewriter? For you, hmmm, $1000, cash only please.
What can this mean? A secret message? Cryptic!
Heavily redacted secret message, obviously in code as well. Proof positive that they are using typewriters for their secret business!
Filed under Photography, Poetry, Technology, Thrift shop finds, Typewriters, Uncategorized
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