Well, here I am again...

     Hello everyone! I am back after a long hiatus. I am sorry for such a big break. I must admit that I forgot about this blog for a while. I have had some things come up in school that require extra work on my part, so that came first in my schedule.
     I don't think I have much news in the typewriter department, other than the fact that I received my first Woodstock typewriter as a gift from my grandfather. It is a very well built machine. Without any work into it, I think it types better than many of my other desktop machines. It sure is a beauty, too. He also gave me an old Stenograph from 1912, I think. It doesn't really work, and is not in very good shape, but it is very neat!
     In other news, I am doing well with my pen making. I am sorry I don't have any pictures to show you, maybe next time? I just finished getting two ready for a customer, and broke one for the same customer that I was just about ready to turn. Great job on my part...
     One more thing before I go. The military teletype machine, which is in fact a radio teletype, has introduced me to HAM Radios. I am very interested in getting started, but I have no idea where to start. Do any of you know anything about amateur radios? If so, please let me know. Are there any books on the subject that stand out as better than the rest? I have heard that some of the ARRL books are considered to be the HAM Radio Bible, but which ones should I get?

Thanks for reading, even after all this time. Have a great week!

     -Mac

Military Teletype

Hello everyone! It feels like it has been a very long time since I have posted, and it has! I thought I would take time today to type up a quick post. Sorry for the lack of typecast. I will do one when I get the time.
I just got back from a week-long missions trip in Wood, South Dakota. My youth group goes there every year to spend time with the kids. It was really fun. Before that, I spent a few days in Omaha, Nebraska with my family. That was also fun. In typewriter news, I just received my first teletype machine in the mail! However, there are no power or data cables with it. It is a AN-UGC-74A(V)3 Teletypewriter, used by the U.S. Military. I believe it was made in the 1980s, but I am not sure. If anyone can help me out with information about it, I would really appreciate it. I will post pictures as soon as I can. Also, a few weeks ago, I taught a class at the Heartland Museum in Clarion, Iowa, about typewriters and bookbinding. I think it went well. I brought along 14 of my typewriters, and they had a Blickensderfer there that we got out to show the kids. Only two kids showed up with their parents, but they seemed to enjoy it. That's it for now. I hope everyone has a great week! -Mac

Happy Typewriter Day!

     I just wanted to take a moment and say "Happy Typewriter Day!" I hope everyone has a great day! For the occasion, I made a short video, showcasing 21 of my typewriters. Here it is. Enjoy!

     Also, I decided to take the advice that some of you left me in the comments of my last post. I will keep the blog online, but I doubt I will post regularly. Go ahead and ignore that last post!

Have a great week!

-Mac

I'm back with a new typecast! ... almost...

Hi everyone! Guess what? I finally got a typecast made up! But guess what else? My scanner isn't working right. How frustrating! Anyways, I will upload it as soon as I can. Hopefully I can get it working for tomorrow. We'll see.

Have a good day!

-Mac

4/19/2014

     Hi everyone. Wow, it has been a while. I have been in Chicago since Wednesday on a school music department trip. That was fun! Anyways, I have not had time to finish my typecast, but I hope to have it done by Monday. It seems like it has been forever since I last uploaded one.

     I am still working on that Smith Premier 10. I have not disassembled anything on it yet, as I still have yet to find the best way to go about doing it. I don't want to get in way over my head, and not be able to get it back together. It looks like if I try to remove the top cover, all of the typebars will come loose, and I don't want to have to deal with that!

     I am sorry that I didn't get around to replying to the comments on the last post, so I am just about to do that as soon as I get this published.

     For lack of a better name, I just decided to use the date. How creative...

I hope everyone has had a great week, and thanks for reading!

-Mac

Mechanical Difficulties

     Hi everyone. I just want to give you a quicke update. My new machine, which is a Smith Premier 10, has more problems than I originally thought. The mainspring appears to be broken, and I have no idea how to fix it. I don't want to disassemble much for fear that I will do more damage than good. I am trying to see how I can get to it with little disassembly. Any suggestions?

     I did get the typebars cleaned, so they are fairly smooth, but this latest problem is quite a disappointment. It may just have to be a display piece. I will let you know how it is going as soon as it gets going!

Everyone have a great week!

-Mac

A Little More Time

Hi everyone! Sorry about the lack of a typecast. I was gone over the weekend, but I did acquire a new machine. This is the first of its kind I have ever seen in person, and the only model of its kind ever made, by my research. It needs some cleaning up before it will type, but I will post on it when I get it working.

Everyone have a great week!

-Mac

Sorry for the Wait

Hello everyone! I am sorry that I have made everyone wait so long. I haven't had time over the past week to do a typecast. I have been very busy with school work, and on top of that, I just got my first customer for pens: someone ordered 12 of them, made out of a special wood from our town. We have an old Carnegie Library building that just got restored, and these pens are made of some of the original oak wood used in trim there. It is very limited in quantity!

Anyways, I should have a typecast coming up, maybe even later today. If not, then hopefully by Wednesday.

I hope everyone has had a great week!

-Mac

Edit: I am going to be gone over the weekend, but I will bring a machine with me and post by monday. I have been so busy, I haven't had time to type anything.

I Couldn't Wait: My 1920's Elliott Fisher

This is the huge cast iron base that the typewriter sits on. Originally, it would have tables on the arms for holding  copies or papers. The arms should also have another part, which would hold the surfaces, but they were missing.

This is a good shot of the column adding/subtracting registers and the mechanism. When you press a number and you have it set to add/subtract, it puts the numbers into the registers, which are the 6 boxes on the back, above the machine.

This is the row adding/subtracting register. It adds up all the numbers that you type in a row, and displays them so that you can type them in a total column. This has a clever way of changing from add to subtract depending on which column register you are currently inputting to.

This is the interesting typeslug I was talking about. It types the star, or "Clear Signal" character. this can only be pressed if the row adding/subtracting register is cleared. The typist would press this at the end of the line because it was proof that no numbers would carry over to the next line, and mess up official records.

 Here are the pens I have made:

The first one. The little ridge on the bottom part originated from me gouging to far into the wood. In the end, I think it turned out pretty nice. Not very shiny though.

This was the second that I made. It is actually a mechanical pencil. It was a lot better than the pen, and more shiny.

Here is one that I made with my own wood from a tree that fell outside my house. It is ash, I think. This is my favorite wood pen thus far.

And finally, my favorite of all: A shiny acrylic pen modeled after a Montblanc Meisterstuck.

This pen turned out really shiny.

Here it is next to a real Montblanc. The one I made is bigger, heavier, and the mechanism is just as smooth.

Quick update: I just posted this machine on TypewriterDatabase.com, if you are interested. My username is mderscheid.

As promised in the comments, here is a link to the user's guide of the Elliott Fisher machine, if anyone is interested:
Click Here

I'm Back!

Here are some pictures:

This is my typecasting machine this week: My brand-new Corona Folding No. 3!

Sorry about the dirty back. I didn't realize it until after I took the picture.

This is my "Explosion-Proof" Western Electric 520. It still works, and I am considering about using it as the telephone in my bedroom.

This thing is surrounded in cast iron, and is built like a tank!

Apologies

I am sorry for the lack of a post recently. I have just been very busy with school and church activities. I am planning on doing one tomorrow, before I leave for Minnesota over the weekend. My family and I are heading down to visit some friends. That will be fun. Last time I went there was to their wedding in August, in the town of Redwing. Many of you will recognize that town from the shoe factory located there. It's a neat town. I plan on going to a few antique shops or malls, so I will let you know if I find anything of interest while I am there. I also need to get a scanner to keep by my computer so that I can do typecasts more efficiently. Right now I have to take a USB flash drive down to the printer/scanner to make a copy to the drive, and it is really finicky. I also have a surprise that some of you may like, but I won't say what it is yet. No, it is not a typewriter, but it is kind of related. Have a great week, everyone!

P.S: I want to tell you that what I said last week about an interesting typeface on the Halberg was complete stupidity on my part. I guess I just haven't used a typewriter in a while, and I think I got too used to seeing Courier New, which is no substitute for the typeface on most typewriters.

My New, long awaited typewriter!

Hello World!

Hello, everyone! My name is Mac. I have wanted to start a blog for what seems like ages, but I have never had the motivation. Another thing that was keeping me is that it doesn't seem like lots of interesting things happen frequently enough to keep up a blog about. Well, I guess we will see how it goes.

As soon as I get my scanner set up, I will start doing typecasts, which is the main reason I want to do this blog. I will also start uploading pictures and typing samples of my collection. I have one machine in particular that I think you will really like. I won't tell you what it is, but I will tell you that it is, according to my research, a rare business machine from the 1920's. I currently have somewhere around 20 machines in my collection, and I plan on adding more. I have just ordered one from eBay, so I will let you know when it gets here.

Until then,
-Mac