A couple of weeks ago Marlboro VT had its annual town rummage sale. The first day, everything is for sale by donation. The second day, everything is free. There are two parts to the sale: the clothing and accessories, and housewares, which covers pretty much any random piece of junk you want to get rid of. So there I was, walking into the housewares section, located in the Town House (where Town Meetings are held each year), and lying plaintively on a table near the door was an open case with an old typewriter sitting in it.
Hello, the typewriter seemed to say. I'm old, and beat up, I could use some help, maybe a little love and a new ribbon. Just take me home, please? Don't leave me here...
Well. I browsed the rest of housewares for a while, and was leaving again when I felt its lonely little self reach out to me. Oh, all right, I said to myself, and bundled the thing up and brought it home with me. A girl and her Remington Rem-riter, a Remington Rem-riter and its girl. hm. I felt hugely guilty stripping the paint off of its casings, but I'm pretty pleased with the results. It also took a while.
The process included: dismantling the casing, unscrewing the carriage/ruler assembly, stripping the paint using a green stripper and a lot of patience, doing a coat of rustoleum primer, then a coat of copper spray paint, then some acrylic topcoat, dusting, wiping and oiling the insides, figuring out which pieces went where in what order (my notes were uniquely unhelpful), and finally, the test run. It still needs new ribbon, but it's damn shiny and happy looking now.
Somewhat ironically, or anachronistically, I don't have a printer, which leaves me without blank sheets of paper for my typewriter...
Wow! Just wow! A biblical raising of the dead!
ReplyDeletePooh
Shiny!
ReplyDeleteVery cool. I'm glad you posted pictures.
ReplyDeleteSo, ink-stained wretch, where's the photo of the ribbon installation? And the accompanying blow-by-blow account of the struggle?
ReplyDeletePooh (who still owns a real typewriter, and hates changing ribbons, if he can find them anymore)
Hey, I just bought a Rem-Riter as well, and was wondering where you managed to find ribbons for it/what kind of ribbons it takes?
ReplyDeleteGood question. There aren't pre-spooled ribbons available that I could find, so it's just important that you get the right width ribbon. Then you can wind it onto the existing spools. I found it in my ebay history, and here's the associated link for similar items:
ReplyDeletehttp://shop.ebay.com/sis.html?_kw=Blk%2FRd+Typewriter+Ribbon+2-Spool+REMINGTON+UNDERWOOD+T5&_id=400044298399
Are you paying over $5 / pack of cigarettes? I'm buying my cigarettes at Duty Free Depot and this saves me over 50%.
ReplyDelete