Olivetti Typecast

Season Update Typecast

Texas Snow

Olympia SG 1 Arrives!

SG1 Update

Well for the past year I have been wanting to not only try a desktop, standard machine but I have had my eye on specifically an Olympia SG 1. Just the other day I found one on Ebay. That same day I called around to a few places that might have one for sale around here. With no luck, I called Cambridge Typewriter back home in MA. To my surprise, Tom, said that he just got one in and that he could hang on to it for me if I would like. Well I told him I would get back to him and would wait and see if the SG1 on Ebay would skyrocket or not.

Of course today I checked it again, it went from $30 to $130. Screw that, not paying such a price for a machine especially if it hasn't been refurbished. So all depressed and thinking that Tom might have already had a buyer for the SG1, I called him anyways. He remembered me from the other day and I told him to hang on to it with great enthusiasm! He told me he would and took down my name and email to send me a picture. I am now so excited! I have my dream machine in the grasp of my fingers. He said it would be about a week until he got to refurbishing it and for me to plan to call him next friday. So I say nay nay to the SG1 on Ebay and can not wait for him to spruce up my future Nano machine. I keep thinking, a SG1 hot off the shelf as it would have been forty or so years ago. Oh man!!!

speculator said...

Ya know, James, I saw Tom working on that SG1- when I was just there on Saturday- and I thought you'd like something like that.
You'd probably save money, considering it'll be mint and road-ready, not to mention sans the shipping problems w/ eBay.

You saw my machine before I, I am so jealous!! That is just to funny man, and you are totally right about the whole shipping thing. When I got my SM9 off I was lucky to get the thing in one piece. Although it was in its case, it was not working when I got it. Nothing was tied down. Now it does silly things like it backspaces twice and the tabulator gets stuck on occasion. This SG is going to be the perfect.

I'd Rather Be Writing

DE Razors, SilentType, and Nano

Mekur Double Edge Razor (Safety Razor)

DE Razor Opened with Personna Blade

Some of the different blades that I have

Feather being the sharpest

Personna being my personal favorite

Proraso Shaving Cream

Also my shaving bowl and brush

For a random topic on shaving, here are some of the things I use and get the closest shave I have ever had. Besides all of the marketing hype of Gillette and Schick they are in my opinion not capable of giving as close of a shave as the old double edge razor. Not only that but because of the multiple blades and a method called Hysteresis. The first blade pulls the hair slightly out of the follicle and the next cuts. The problem with this is it can lead to irritation and tons of ingrown hairs. By using the right shaving cream soap or in a tube you can also get a better shave. Shaving cream that comes in a can is no good at all. There is air bubbles in the foam when it comes out and is cheaply made.

DE Razors also let you have a selection of blades that are all different. Everyones face is different and therefore different people may think one blade is better than another. From my own personal experience I like the Personna blades as they are not to sharp and leave no irratation at all. People with thicker beards would probably prefer Feather blades or something a little more sharp than the Personnas. Feather blades are made in Japan and are the sharpest blades in the market. But like I said, I don't have a crazy thick beard so I have found them to be a bit overkill.

On another note, Silent type is a total success. Thank you strikethru, you did a great job! Also it seems the Nano site is booming and the forums have already started pouring in. I am excited but at the same time worried about what exactly I am going to decide to write.

Simple Things

Written on: Olympia SM9

Life With No Fall Typecast

New Type Fonts

Typewriter Cover

The end result

Todays project was to make a better cover for the selectric than an old tee shirt. Allie and I went to Joanns, got fabric and she basically took over. She was in and out of the room going from the sewing machine and back. The end result other than a few slight difficulties was great! It made me wonder though, what to you guys do for overing your desktop machines? I mean portables can be put away, but even then, do you cover it or...

Typecast: Generosity & Pen review

Domino PC's

This is for everyone's enjoyment here at the typosphere. I thought of all of you when I saw this. LOL

Wet Ink

So I was writing in the 'ol journal this afternoon and spilled some condensation from my glass on the paper. It gave me the idea of testing how the ink of different pens stick to the paper when wet. I remembered in the trash there was a balled up piece of paper that I used the other day to see how different pens I use wrote. It was after reading LFP’s different opinions on pens what not. When journaling I like to use pens that flow across the paper and write fairly evenly. I tend to write very small and use almost exclusively either the Jotter or my Uni Ball Vision Elite. I am willing to invest in a nice fountain pen that doesn’t write so boldly but have yet to find one. Last year I picked up the disposable pilot fountain pens at staples but never really used them. They write so damn boldly. I write with either a .5MM or something similar. As much as I love my Jotter, my hand can become sweaty and likes to slide down the pen. But when that happens it’s usually time to give my hand a quick break anyways. I guess my somewhat lack of pen knowledge led to my preference of the typewriter. But although I’m aware of what I’m getting myself into here ($$$) and being an office supply geek LPF brought up an interest I avoided since high school. My stepfather owns a business selling promotional products. He brought my pen addiction to a full time high when I was a kid. But fountain pens are a whole new world for me. Opinions??

IBM Ribbons typecast

Typecast: Workspace

Finally some room to move around.  

It's not finished yet, still needs work

How long have I been complaining 

about not having a scanner??

Wireless Kodak ESP7 All-in-One Printer

Home on the way

On that note...

So last night Allie and I decided to move the bed to make more room. Room for what you might ask, well with school and everything what could be better than a desk of course! Finally, *sigh* Before the bed was in the middle of the room and there wasn't much space for anything. Now I will be able to write next to the window as well instead of looking at a blank wall. I ordered a L shaped corner desk, I can't wait till it arrives. As you might remember, the selectric on a tray table only lasts for so long before you realize how nice a desk would be. Luckily there is room now!

SM9 & Selectric Colorcast

Crayola VS. Cra Z Art

With all of the trouble that people are going through in an attempt to do a color cast I figured I would see if I could pin point the problem. I went and bought Crayola crayons and some knock off brand called Cra Z Art. What I found was that the cheeper brand crayons work better. I think because our favorite Crayola crayons are made not to transfer they are not the best to use.

I strated off with the first three Crayola crayons pressing really hard

The small section of red is what lightly coloring looks like. Not what you want

I used small sections and made sure they were dark as I could get them

I shook the shavings in to the Walmart bag

When heating the wax with the blow dryer the chepo Cra Z Art

green color melted as did the other colors.

The Crayola didn't melt at all, probably being one of the reasons it

didn't work all that great.

The Wax should show through the other side

I put the Selectric on the highest impact setting.

Setting 5

No Flash

The Crayola crayons really didn't work well at all with the Selectric

or the SM9

The Last three Samples using the Cra Z Art crayons

came out great. It seems with the 12 pitch Selectric set on

its highest impact setting worked the best. I was giving the

SM9 a good whack too but who knows.