Without Reservation: Typewriter Recommendations

This post come by way of an email exchange between Richard and myself. The question was what typewriter do I think is best for a classroom environment. I was flattered to be asked, but then I thought about it. My students have typed over 12 million words on the classroom typewriters. These typewriters have been my co-teachers for many years. In that time I have had a chance to stress-test several brands ant there is one that stands out above all the rest due to its low cost, ease of repair, and durability.

At some point we all come to the conclusion that some brands of typewriters fit our needs better than others. That is when we develop personal preferences. I, as you can sense, have an affinity for Royal desktops because here are no finer typewriters to be had. Others bow down at the alter of Olympia. Still others are true-blue Olivetti fans.

Of course, so much depends on the state of the machines when they come to you. I have had some fantastic top-shelf typewriters that have been real dogs, but other ugly everyday machines have proven to be very reliable. There is no one answer, but if I were setting up a CTP cell in a local writing studio or teen space I would probably fill the place with Brothers.

Hold on. Let me explain. The whole point of the CTP is to get kids interacting with typewriters and the written word. Given the robust insane nature of the typewriter resale market, finding a bargain can be hard. Luckily, these little all-metal typewriters are just ugly and charmless enough to be priced  in that all-important $20 area. Sometimes they can be had for far less, but their true value is so much greater.

These are transparent typewriters. By that I mean they give up their secrets easily. Fixing a Hermes requires (a) a ritual induction in to the esoteric brotherhood of Hermes aficionados and (b) a wiliness to accept that the escapement of that "rare" and "unique" sea foam-green 3000 you bought for $90 is irreparably broken and you will find no repair parts anywhere. Sobering thought. Let the Brother be a balm for your troubled heart. What a Brother lacks in seafoamy goodness it more than makes up for in interchangeable parts. I have swapped bits of escapement mechanisms to and fro Brothers and I have found them to play very nicely with each other.

True, these are easily repaired, but their durability means that I rarely have problems to begin with. No plastic. The bodies are metal. I am sure the plastic ones are pretty good, but the metal ones are very good. With the bumps and scraps that a typewriter like these will encounter having a metal body makes sense. Speaking of very good keep an eye out for the Webster.

This Webster is sporting a custom-made replacement right shift key. The previous one was lost.
The new one is made from InstaMorph.

Richard once offered me a Webster and I snubbed it. That little bit of typewriter snobbery still haunts me. After I got one for the classroom I realized that they are good typewriters; small, lithe, and easy to use. The two tone blue is also very nice. Many of my students like the red tab button.

So, am I saying that you should snub donations? Not at all. Take whatever is given to you. Appreciate it. Love it. Share that love. Just keep one eye out for all-metal Brothers. They are real gems and can add some durability to a heavy use typewriter collection.

Robert has all you ever wanted to know about Brother at this link. 

November Lecture Notes

I promised Dr. Polt that the next post would be about my November Lecture. I am the type of lecturer where I create an outline and go from there. It's a by-product of the extemporaneous nature of teaching.

I divided the lecture into two three parts. The first part was a overviews of the Typewriter Renaissance and how it came to be. I spent some time talking about the origins and influences of the movement. The second part was devoted to the CTP and what I have done with typewriters in education. I shared the results of the original experiment and the inventories that came later. I drew some interesting conclusions about student metacognition. This was the largest part of the lecture. The final part was a small survey of the typewriters on display. I picked out some of the more interesting choices and shared their history and importance in the great chain of typewriter being.

Here's a link to a PDF or my notes.

I probably should have recorded the thing, but it was nice to be in the moment and not worry about a camera.

2013 Review: A Long, Slow Slide

My fortune cookie said that the year ahead would bring new experiences. Before I prepare for the new take a look at what happened in the previous year:

January

• A consul 232 showed up and I explored the world of samizdat and the Typosphere behind the Iron Curtain.
• I lent some typewriters to the Arizona Association for Supportive Child Care for a special event they were holding centering around Childsplay's production of Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type. 

February

• The fourth Phoenix Type-In was announced.
• Oscar, a former student, gave me a typewriter.

March

• NBC came by my classroom to film for a piece on the Typewriter Renaissance.
• The Fourth Phoenix Type-In was a rousing success.

April

• 100,000 page views.
• I made a very silly typewriter-themed Photoshop image.

May

• I finally decided that digital-typewriter hybrids are just not my cup of tea.

June

• I decided to make a fool of myself and try my hand at vlogging. Also, not my cup of tea.

July

• Sent a letter to Keith Sharon at the OCR. I still have the reply to his letter in my stationary drawer. I don't know if I want to send it.
• I was still cloning onto the idea that I might be a vlogger. I like tea.

August

• I turned my blog into a book that can be read after the digital apocalypse.

September

• I was asked by Glendale Community College to share some of my typewriters in a library exhibit. This was my first and I was happy how everything turned out. The list of typewriters was unusual, but I am well-known for my unusual.

October

• More silly digital images.

November

• I gave a lecture about post-modernity, the quest for the authentic, post-structuralism, and the CTP. It was described by one attendee as "transformative." Another called it, "That stuff I had to listen to to get hot cocoa and cookies." 
• A student spilled pineapple into one of my typewriters. It was an accident.

December

• I took a cool noir image of the pineapple typewriter.
• I also wrapped a typewriter and put it under the tree for a photo shoot.

I reviewed my posts from the last year. The frequency with which I have posted has slowed to a little more than once a week. All this year I have been a little stuck and that has come out in my work. It was a long, slow slide to blah. I tried my hand at vlogging, but I found it to be too time consuming and being in front of the camera was not what I wanted. I tried to walk through a typewriter restoration, but I ran out of steam somewhere in the middle. The USB typewriter worked, but I wasn't bowled over by the experience of making it. Lackluster. That would be the summation of by blogging year. 

Even though I waded hip-deep into a treacly morass there were some bright spots. The NBC story was fun. I enjoyed the process of turning my blog into a book. I made some funny images. I had that awesome display and lecture.

With the bad there is good. New days are ahead. I hope that you have enjoyed every fun-packed bit that MM 2013 had to offer. Now we can move onto 2014.

Happy Holidays!

Paper Welder

Ton, Miguel, Nick, and Richard all shared their staplers and this is mine. Actually, it's a type of fastener.

This beauty crimps paper together with a fluted "weld." It is in the same vein as Richard's tab thingamajig, but with more mid-century chrome. The ever-interesting American Stationer blog has a very lengthy article about the different models of the Paper Welder. 

One benefit to a crimper like this is you can feed pages that have been crimped though a typewriter with ease. Staples do not always play nicely with a platen.

Typewriter Noir

Typewriter Crafting: Making Hermes 3000 Knobs

Count yourself lucky if you own a Hermes 3000 and your knobs are in good shape  I have two of these typewriters that are in fantastic shape and all knobs, levers, and buttons are extant and operable. However, I do have one Hermes that is missing both knobs.

It's a lovely mid-body Hermes. You know the ones; pale green and white key tops. They have all the feel of the original Hermes with the extra brittle knobs. Bonus! I haven't put it out into the rotation because of the knobs. As a typer it's completely useable, but the knoblesness makes loading paper too dependent on the line spacing mechanism. So, I set out to make a new knob.

Rob made some out of wood. Very nice. I support hand-crafted lovliness. Wood would be good, but plastic...well the future is in plastics. I, however, do not have a plastics factory. Or do I?

Enter Instamorph. You may have seen it as Shapelock or (as the boffins in labs know it) Polycaprolactone; PCL. This plastic is amazing. It melts in 60 degree (140F) water and becomes a pliable putty that you can mold into a variety of shapes. Apart form the hobbyist applications, there are medical uses (drug delivery systems) that make this a very unusual material. I like it because you can make into typewriter knobs.

I took the original mandrel from the Hermes knob and cleaned it off. I then melted some PCL according to the directions on the tub and started forming the small lump into something that resembled a typewriter knob. I worked the material over for a while trying to make a close fit to the mandrel. The material is pliable, but it can be stiff and I was having a hard time making a tight fit around the part. I then thought to form the piece slightly smaller and compression fit it into place. That worked marvelously. In the end I got this.

It is a good size, but looks a little homemade. If you have a little more time and a little more ambition you could make it look a lot better. I gave the plastic some time to cool and then attach the newly-crafted knob to the typewriter. The best thing about this plastic is that if you are unhappy with the outcome, just cut it up into little pieces and reheat it. This process can be done over and over. It's really a great/fun material to work with.

Time will yield results on the long-term durability, but I have high hopes. Instamorph (and Shapelock) are paintable. There might even be possibilities in making (or remaking) feet, keytops, and bushings; anything you might imagine. Now, there is one caveat; Instamorph is biodegradable. So that knob or foot or keytop might not last for decades, but it's perfect for fairly fast repairs.

Instamorph: http://www.instamorph.com (Distributed by a local company out of Scottsdale, AZ)

Shapelock: http://shapelock.com/