Underwood uncovered

This looked sooo much nicer on ebay!

This 1930s machine has sat neglected in the loft for several years but these silver surfers over the pond have shown that a new paint job is achievable, without too much stress. It is a crying shame that removing the paint will destroy the original Underwood decals.

Thinking that if someone could paint it so badly and in such a crappy colour, the technical challenge of dismantling this Underwood wouldn't be beyond me. It didn't take long to find the two screws fixing the aluminium body to the its guts. I'm going to run into a challenge when it comes to the feet. The front ones are bolted to the frame but specifically shaped to take the nut and and bolt and grooved to accommodate the case fixings. Maybe I can whittle something. The back feet also need replacing...

STOP PRESS: I just had a quick dab with paint stripper. The hand-painted brown has started to come off fairly easily - decals and original enamel pretty much OK. Maybe this could turn into a renovation rather than a reinvention?

The glue sticking the aftermarket interior sponge foam (???!!!) is harder to get off than the paint!

Wilhelmshaven vs Frankfurt

Got one of these?

The Emoticon Legend types thank you letters to aunts, uncles and grandparents for birthday presents

...get some of these :-)

However will we survive when these are all used up? Note lack of bar-code on the 1980s' packaging

Mint Imperial

...well, almost mint. Here's a second booklet hand-made by the cherubim in Typewriter Heaven along with the Antares Parva manual. This one is about a basket-shift tabulator from an outpost of Imperial's empire on England's East Coast*.

Open publication

*Try saying that with a mouthful of Rice Crispies.

Disclaimer: publication not intended as a user guide or maintenance manual. 

Strip show

By popular request, a slide show of the stripped plywood case from the Olympia SM3. The case had been somewhere damp as you can tell from the tarnished metalwork and black stain. I haven't tried to conceal any blemishes and the only work on the furniture was to polish the chrome and emery one of the handle fasteners which was all rusty. The tricky part (aside from removing the paint) was to protect the interior which is flocked (not fabric lined) and easily damaged by clamping in a workbench. It wasn't in great condition to start with. Clean flock by dabbing, not wiping.

You can see that the case was only intended to be painted - the joinery is crude and the beech veneer marked, though the original paint in those areas was intact. The rubber feet were compacted, crumbling and damaged. Since they are symmetrical, I sliced the damaged surface off, reversed them so the good side is on the outside, and glued them in place after varnishing the case - they'll need tidying inside with a patch of felt.

Anyone fancy a go? After removing the handle, catch and feet (4x metal and 4 rubber), here's a list of what I used:

1. 1/3 sheet orbital sander (beech is pretty tough and shows no sanding rings)
2. 40 grit Aluminium Oxide abrasive paper to remove the top paint
3. 80 grit once the wood starts to show through
4. 240 grit emery paper to hand flatten the surface prior to varnishing
5. Rag and spirit to clean between sanding and varnishing
6. 2 coats quick drying polyurethane varnish (at least)
7. Dust mask, ear protectors and forgiving neighbours.

Have fun...

True grit

Furniture screwed back in place. The varnish said "satin" on the tin - but it looks almost glossy.

So there I was, thinking I'd never get all the paint off the Olympia SM3's case, but I decided to try a new batch of paper on the orbital sander. Wow! 40 grit Aluminium Oxide paper really shifts paint without clogging. 80 grit swept away the undercoat and primer all the way down to bare wood. All in about half an hour. £3.00 well spent.

Thanks Richard the Bikecaster for the ID tip. Looks like it is a non-Deluxe SM3. I should have guessed by the way it doesn't say Deluxe on the type basket.