A new project

Above is my birthday present to myself, a 1946 Smith-Corona Clipper. I ordered it online from someone in Tucson, AZ. It’s in pretty good working condition, though the “?” key has become disconnected— I suppose I can’t ask any questions until I can fix it. 

I chose it for the classic look of the black textured paint, the round metal and glass key caps, and overall shape of the frame. The Clipper logo was a nice touch, too. 

I enjoy learning about each of the Clipper’s levers, most unmarked, and their functions. There’s definite novelty in setting margins, line spacing, and key sensitivity (tension) with manual levers and other pieces of metal. 

Other than the disconnected “?” key, some of the other keys stick from time to time and the platen needs some care. I also want to give it a good deep cleaning. I ordered some typewriter tools (long, skinny screwdrivers, spring hooks and such) so that I can work on it (i.e. take it apart) properly. 

I suppose that the hobby “using a typewriter to write” automatically comes with another hobby, “typewriter repair”.